Ahead of the upcoming 2020 PBA season, which kicks off in three months, Meralco Bolts head coach Norman Black, whose team made it to the finals of the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup, losing in the end to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, reflected on the second place finish and blamed it on untimely injuries.
“We lost our big men in the finals and we never seemed to be the same team again,” the coach explained. “Before [Raymond Almazan] got hurt, [the series] was tied at 1-1－we were competitive but, once he got hurt, everything changed.”
“The positive side is we made it to the championship,” he added. “It’s better than coming in third or fourth or fifth or sixth.”
Black also discussed working their way up the leaderboard.
“We came in 11th and eighth place before the third conference,” he said. “The addition of Raymond and Allein Maliksi, and, of course, the return of [Allen Durham] made up a more competitive team and gave us a chance to win a championship.”/ASC, WDJ