PBA GovCup Semis: Meralco - Designed to Fail?

Nag mukhang unggoy yung Meralco
sa pangit ng rotation
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Before anything else, we would like to give a shoutout to the Meralco Bolts for their gutsy stand despite the huge disparity in personnel and firepower in their series against the San Mig Coffee Mixers. Import Mario West put in an impressive and valiant effort despite clearly being hobbled by a shoulder injury he suffered the game before. 

But what we want to touch on this entry is to openly question just what the hell happened with the Bolts. Did they push and ride the “underdog” tag too much? Were players being withheld from being fielded in? What the hell kind of rotation and game plan was Bolts head coach Ryan Gregorio trying to play the entire series?

The way the series unraveled, the Bolts played small ball most of the time with veteran Reynel Hugnatan duking it out with San Mig Coffee’s Marc Pingris, Marqus Blakely and Rafi Reavis underneath. Spelling him was JayR Reyes, a 6”8 warm body with six handy fouls to give out at best.

The Bolts were relentless on the boards yes, but they had guys who could have been of much use as well. Don Allado, James Sena and Noy Baclao—as far as we know, none of these guys are injured. None of them were given meaningful minutes this series. If you argue that it was for the sake of matching up with the Mixers, well, Allado could’ve and would’ve held his own against (at the very least) Reavis.

At the guard position, Coach RG also opted to sit out his best local scorer Mac Cardona in favor of shooters Sunday Salvacion and John Wilson. We get that Wilson is a more polished defender than Cardona and was needed to shackle James Yap, but to not use Cardona at all until last night’s game? That was hilariously frustrating on all fronts.

Yes, West dominated the ball which left little to do for Cardona who is more of an isolation player than a kickout option, but it also made the Bolts extremely predictable and easy to coach against: guard West one-on-one and just stay home on the shooters and the kick-out lanes as much as possible.

And that was pretty much how the Mixers played the entire series. By daring West to win it for the Bolts all by himself.

Had Cardona been a part of the mix (we’re not saying that he get his once-upon-a-time franchise player minutes), his unpredictability with the basketball could’ve opened up the offense. As another threat to score, the Mixers would’ve been forced to switch or adjust so that they’d have to guard West, Cardona AND the token shooter (Wilson, Salvacion or Jarred Dillinger).

We argued that Dillinger should’ve been tasked to play PG with Cardona and West, if only because he’s a more potent offensive threat than any of Mike Cortez, Chris Ross and Chris Timberlake COMBINED. He’s also big and quick enough to guard positions 1 to 3 for the Bolts giving them a bigger line-up spread evenly.

So yeah, Dillinger, Cardona, West, Hugnatan, Allado would have been a better unit for a traditional coach and game plan. Then we’d have Ross and Wilson come in for Dillinger and Cardona, balancing each other out with Ross’ D and Wilson’s D + O. Cortez is the odd man out for now, heady as he is, because of his inconsistent range and slow-footed D on the Mixers’ Mark Barroca.

But the ever imaginative and youthful Coach RG probably stuck to his Dribble Drive Motion offense a little too much, with West playing the primary ball handler role. Problem is, he isn’t wired to look for teammates when he is on the move (more to score). 

Allado tweeted last night that he was just thankful for the Bolts’ Governor’s Cup run and that everyone was injury-free.

INJURY-FREE.

That includes him and (obviously) Cardona.

Yet they were unable to contribute as much as we expected them to.

Would’ve been fun picking Jong Uichico’s brain during the series.