The Meralco Bolts lived to fight another day last Wednesday and with their 86 to 81 win, have set a sudden death date with perennial rivals, the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
In terms of firepower, there is a chance that Ginebra might try to farm the small-market teams after this season because they aren't as deep as they once were. I know Meralco had an eight-man rotation, but they are still deep with options compared to the Kings.
If you are a Ginebra fan, you'd want Christian Standhardinger to go insane in the middle with Scottie Thompson finally breaking out from his offensive slump. With Meralco, they need to have a balanced attack with pinpoint precision. While Bong Quinto led the Bolts with 23 points, the other Meralco scorers struggled on the field. Chris Newsome had 21 points off 28 percent shooting, Allein Maliksi had 14 points off 38 percent shooting, and Chris Banchero had nine points and 28 percent from the field.
I guess the Never Say Die mantra of Ginebra has no off switch. Still, San Miguel versus Meralco can be a better matchup to stop a possible San Miguel pseudo-grand slam (because this season only has two conferences.)