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Meralco, Phoenix kick off PBA Governors’ Cup
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MERALCO wants to pick up from where it left off while Phoenix simply wants its relatively fresh start to deliver the desired results as hoped.
Which between the two teams’ respective wishes would come true should be known Friday when they square off in the opening match of the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts are looking to rediscover the momentum they had in the Commissioner’s Cup, where they won their first five games and advanced as far as the semifinals before narrowly losing to Alaska in a best-of-five series that went the full route.
“We just want to get off to a good start in this conference and at least match or surpass our performance last time out,” said Meralco coach Norman Black on the eve of the match.
Phoenix coach Ariel Vanguardia, tapped to replace Koy Banal just last May 31 after the Fuelmasters wound up 11th in a field of 12 teams in the Commissioner’s Cup, said the game should act as gauge of where his team is right now.
“We still need a lot of improvement, especially on defense,” said Vanguardia. “Sabi nga, marami pa kaming kakaining bigas. Pero kapag sinuwerte, may chance na makasilat.”
Black said the teams’ performance should depend on the performance of their respective imports, a comment that Vanguardia totally agrees with.
Meralco is parading Allen Durham, a 6-foot-4 ½ former standout at Grace Christian Bible and who saw action for Barako Bull in the 2014 Governors Cup, and Iranian star Mohammad Jamshidi.
Jamshidi, however, is set to arrive only today, leaving Durham, Jimmy Alapag, Jared Dillinger, Chris Newsome and Reynel Hugnatan to mainly carry the fight for the Bolts.
“Allen Durham has fared well in our scrimmage games and he’s ready to go,” noted Black. “Jamshidi… may take some time for us to get him used to our system.”
For its part, Phoenix would be relying mostly on Marcus Simmons, a former University of Southern California star who has spent most of his professional career playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBA D-League.
Due to a recent arrangement with the Samsung Thunders of the Korean league, Vanguardia also enlisted the services of gunner Lee Gwan-Hee.
In order to make up for the absence of JC Intal, who is still receiving treatment for bone spurs on his ankle, Cyrus Baguio and Ronjay Buenafe were acquired from Alaska and Meralco, respectively, capping a series of trades the team sealed to shape what Vanguardia envisioned as a “run-and-gun” type of squad.
“Maganda naman response ng team sa changes, sistema. Pero siyempre makikita lang iyon sa talagang laro,” said Vanguardia, who has other new faces in the team in John Wilson, Norbert Torres, Mark Cruz, Mark Borboran and Simon Enciso.
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