Low-power Bolts keep hopes high

Injury-riddled Meralco keeps a positive headspace despite a two-game slide as it looks to turn its fortunes around when action in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup resumes on Sunday.

The injury bug bit the Bolts hard. They were on a roll in their first three games before dropping back-to-back outings, including in a match where they were forced to play all-Filipino.

Meralco was easily dismantled by streaking Converge, 110-94, on Christmas Day to slip out of the top eight in the standings.

“By no means are we down, or feeling out, or anything like that. We still have a winning record as of now but it’s about getting those guys back healthy so everybody could contribute,” Meralco guard Chris Newsome said.

“That’s what Meralco basketball is, we are at our best when we have multiple guys that could contribute.”

The Philippine Cup champion has yet to field a healthy lineup in the mid-season conference and is still missing big men Raymond Almazan and Brandon Bates as well as rookie CJ Cansino.

Original import Akil Mitchell rejoined the squad against FiberXers after missing two games due to a fractured nose while Allein Maliksi and Chris Banchero were also activated for the first time in the conference.

However, missing games got them a little rusty.

The Bolts suffered their first defeat at the hands of Blackwater, 114-98, last 12 December sans replacement reinforcement DJ Kennedy (calf injury).

Meralco hopes the holiday break has given them enough time to recharge and recover.

“We gotta get back to the drawing board and hopefully we’ll get a lot of our guys back. You know we’ve been hit by the injury bug the last few months,” said Newsome, the Philippine Cup Finals Most Valuable Player.

“We’ve gone to the EASL (East Asia Super League) and done a lot of traveling but that’s not an excuse being a professional player you have to show up every single day, every single night regardless of who’s out there we got to show up and play.”

The Bolts will march back into battle against Hong Kong Eastern in their 5 p.m. encounter at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We’re still positive because we’ve shown like in the All-Filipino, we could be down but as long as we stay together and as long as we believe in one another, believe in our system, we can still make something special happen out of this conference,” Newsome said.