Meralco finally beats Kuya

Ross' rising PG play is key

Meaning, the Meralco Bolts can now wake up in the morning, wash their faces, look in the mirror and say that yes, they finally have a victory over their big brothers in the PBA, the Talk 'n' Text Tropang Texters.

An asterisk could be put on this opening day conquest though, with most of the Texters' starting unit inactive (Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes, Harvey Carey and Kelly Williams) and the remaining guns like Ranidel de Ocampo, Jarred Dillinger and Ali Peek not at 100%. Whatever, this is basketball-- if you can suit up, then you can play as the greats would always say.

Both teams fielded impressive imports, with the Bolts' Champ Oguchi (scorer) and Texters' Paul Harris (all-around player) canceling each other out the whole way. The difference was simple: the Bolts had Mac Cardona, Chris Ross and Sol Mercado while the Text``frers had to do with Pamboy Raymundo, Aron Aban and Larry Fonacier.

Fonacier's good, but he had his hands full with Cardona bent on scoring the basketball and Mercado doing his reckless yet effective kamikaze drives to the hoop. The Texters made a game of it in the 4th quarter, but every run was met by a Bolts' guard hoop. That, plus Raymundo, Aban and Fonacier were all unable to get the ball to the best player on the floor (hurting or not), Ranidel de Ocampo (who, as we've always said, seems to play his best when Alapag-Castro-Reyes are not on the floor).

Expect the Texters to bounce back once they start getting their A-listers to suit up-- this being their fashion-forward Coach Chot Reyes' last conference with them and all (he's moving to fulfill his SMART Gilas 2 duties while Assistant Coach Norman Black moves back to the pros).

For the Bolts, this was one of those rare occasions wherein Cardona and Mercado were able to co-exist. They played a lot of small ball today, with import Oguchi manning the 4 position at times but mostly, Mercado handles the ball from up top and is free to create for himself (kamikaze drives) or others (kick-out) while Cardona stands by the right three point corner, either to spot up or walk into Mercado's driving trail for the easy catch-spin-tear drop.

Veteran big aka the Human Swiss Army Knife Reynel Hugnatan also came up big while playing center in the Bolts new, "small ball" gameplan. The man was flat-out hustling versus wide bodies like Ali Peek, Gilbert Lao and taller de Ocampo and Japeth Aguilar. Asi Taulava also needs to be shown some love for that vintage dunk he brushed off his old bag of tricks.

Finally, the Bolts' future depends more on the small shoulders of one Chris Ross. He's still a shitty jumpshooter, but boy is this guy starting to get into the PBA style of play. He's no longer running at full-speed; just enough to push the tempo and set his guys up. His defense has also been quite superb as of late, and he seems to be the only guy who's able to keep Mercado and Cardona off each other's scoring paths. Too bad for Paul Artadi though.

Look for the Bolts to make a deep run this conference with a stacked line-up that will definitely become more balanced when Mark Borboran checks in.

PS

Would it sound very Quinito/ Halili-ish if we tag Mercado as, well, Kamika-Sol?