The Meralco Bolts are returning to the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association Governor’s Cup after two long years.
Bucking serious manpower issues following the absence of injured prized guard Chris Banchero, the Bolts mauled the Magnolia Hotshots, 94-81, in Game 5 of their best-of-five semifinal series at the Araneta Coliseum Friday night and clinched a seat in the finals. The Bolts got a big break with the unavailability of hurt Hotshots’ import Mike Harris in the last quarter to take control of the game.Starting on Wednesday, the Bolts will be renewing their championship rivalry with the Barangay Ginebra Kings, who beat them for the title back in 2019.
The Hotshots lost Harris in the remaining 8:55 after he got elbowed on the jaw during a rebound battle with Bolts’ import Tony Bishop.
Complaining of dizziness and bleeding from the mouth, Harris watched from the bench and was hooked up to an oxygen breathing tube for the rest of the game, as the Bolts fought to protect their two-figure lead until the end.
“We just continued to play good defense and our offense wasn’t really clicking today. We did not make many shots in the first half. They shot with a much better percentage than we did in the first half,” said Meralco coach Norman Black. Allein Maliksi tallied a game-high 24 points for the Bolts, including three triples in the last canto, while Raymund Almazan and Chris Newsome added 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Banchero was not allowed to play after being bothered by back spasms before the game.