Black takes blame for Meralco’s woeful showing: ‘Being the coach…it’s my fault’
Meralco Bolts’ head coach Norman Black. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Norman Black took the blame for Meralco’s lfailed season after the Bolts ended their PBA Philippine Cup campaign with just one victory.
But the American mentor also wants his players to reflect on their dismal performance this conference which saw them be the first squad to get eliminated in the playoff race.
“Whenever you lose, there’s a tendency for negativity to really creep in and point fingers,” said Black. “Being the coach, I took the blame for the loss. It’s all my fault. I’m the head coach and the boss. I’ll handle and shoulder the disappointment of losing, but at the same time, I need my players to go home and look at themselves in the mirror and figure out what they did wrong, what they can do better, and how we can improve next conference.”
The Bolts have a long lull ahead of them but Black said they won’t be taking any rest.
“Basically, I explained to them that none of us have the right to take a break,” Black said after the Bolts tasted yet another defeat, this time at the hands of Rain or Shine, 97-87 on Wednesday.
“We weren’t very good, that’s for sure. Maybe we take a couple of days off and ask the players do something on their own and stay in good condition. We can’t look at it as some kind of a vacation.
Don’t expect Meralco to dwell on the Philippine Cup debacle for long, though, as the Bolts need to prepare for the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup where competition will be even tougher.
One of Black’s priorities is to tap an import that would fill the gaping hole in rebounding given that Meralco averaged a league-worst 44.18 rebounds per outing,
“This conference is very disappointing, but we just have to try to recruit an import who can help us with some of our needs, which is rebounding and hopefully, one who can defend the rim. That’s going to be the most important thing.”
Black has a few names of imports in mind, but no deal has been struck with anyone yet.
“We have imports who we are looking at right now, but we don’t have a definite guy. Hopefully, within the next week, we can get somebody in the contract,” he said. “We’ve had problems defending the rim this conference and controlling our rebounds. It’s a challenge for my big man to do a better job next conference, but at the same time, we’ll try to get a big guy to defend the middle.”
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