SLAMBANG SUNDAY: NLEX, San Miguel shoot for 2nd straight wins

Games today:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

5 p.m. — Phoenix vs NLEX

7:30 p.m. — Blackwater vs San Miguel Beer

NLEX and San Miguel Beer gun for their second straight win against separate foes in Group B of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Road Warriors step back to the court to square off with Phoenix at 5 p.m. followed by the Beermen’s 7:30 p.m. tussle with hapless Blackwater.

Parading a new coach in Jong Uichico, NLEX convincingly zoomed past the Bossing last Thursday.

Robert Bolick’s near triple-double and import Myke Henry’s double-double powered the Road Warriors to a 104-87 victory over the winless Blackwater.

Playing under Uichico’s system, Bolick focuses on his defensive effort and finding good looks for his teammates to score. And according to the Philippine Cup scoring champion, his offense will come naturally.

“I try to put extra effort into my defense. Honestly, I struggle in that department a little bit. I worked on that during the offseason, and I think I did a pretty good job on defense in our first game,” said Bolick, who had 24 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in NLEX’s debut.

“Hopefully, I could sustain it. I see my teammates get all fired up when they see me put on extra work on defense.”

Henry is also expected to deliver the same performance he had in the opener when he dropped 31 points and 10 boards.

Ritchie Rodger, Robbie Herndon and Tony Semerad will backstop Bolick and Henry against the Fuel Masters’ Jayveous McKinnis, Jason Perkins, Ricci Rivero, Tyler Tio and RJ Jazul who gave the Beermen a scare before eventually yielding.

Meanwhile, San Miguel is favored to add more woes to struggling Blackwater.

The Beermen had to fend off Phoenix’s late uprising in a 111-107 escape last Wednesday.

But with Bossing import Ricky Ledo underachieving in his first two outings and with no clear answer if he’ll wake up from his funk soon, San Miguel could be heading into another victory.

Eight-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo had a hulking performance in his first game of the season with 37 points and 24 rebounds.

Blackwater will need to find a way to stop the Beermen behemoth as well as his elite crew led by CJ Perez, who has found his range in the four-point area proven by his dagger quadruple that repulsed the Fuel Masters with under a minute left.

Jordan Adams in his debut, got 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds for San Miguel.

Adams will be a tough matchup for former National Basketball Association player Ledo, who totaled 18 points in an atrocious six-of-38 field goal shooting in two games.

“Our import is really good. He’s not the flashy kind of import but he’s very effective, that’s what we need,” Fajardo said.

No. 2 overall pick Sedrick Barefield, Christian David and Troy Rosario will need to step up big time to help Blackwater stop the bleeding.