Meralco targets 2-0 lead

4:30 p.m. – Northport Batang Pier vs NLEX Road Warriors

Two-time finalist Meralco guns for a quick 2-0 lead when it tussles with a struggling Talk ‘N Text in the second game day of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup today at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City.

Action kicks off at 7 p.m. with the Bolts looking for an immediate follow up to their huge opening day win two days ago to own the top of the season-ending conference.

Before that, the Yeng Guiao’s NLEX squad also eyes a second straight win against the Northport (formerly Globalport) in the first game at 4:30 p.m. Guiao is currently manning the coaching duty in the Asian Games for the Philippine Team.

Bannered by two-time reigning Best Import Allen Durham, Meralco shrugged off a slow start to escape with a thrilling 109-106 win over Columbian Dyip on Friday night.

Head coach Norman Black though called on his wards to up their game, especially on defense against the potent and hungry TNT squad, if they wish to remain perfect in the Governors’ Cup.

“Of course, we’ll try to win for a 2-0 record but we have to get better defensively,” said Black. “We gave a lot of points to Columbian Dyip and it will be a completely different match-up against TNT.”

The Katropa, on the other hand, struggled in their debut with a huge 90-103 setback to NLEX also on Friday night.

However, Black remains wary of the vengeful TNT as he expects import Mike Glover to come back with a bang after a sorry first game performance.

“Glover is more of an inside player, so we’ll try to devise different ways to slow him down in the post and of course, we’re always concerned of their perimeter play with Jayson Castro and Terence Romeo,” Black said.

Black is tapping his prized import Durham to anchor their defense especially after the reigning best import’s emphatic PBA return with a near triple double of 26 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists in Meralco’s debut win.

Tasked to provide scoring assistance for him are Baser Amer, Mike Tolomia, Cliff Hodge, Ranidel De Ocampo and Anjo Caram, who all scored in double digits in their last game

Meanwhile, head coach Nash Racela is anticipating more from his underperforming import Glover who settled for just 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting on top of 15 rebounds for the KaTropa to avoid a deep 0-2 hole early in the season-ending conference.

“Of course we expect more, we always expect more. Eleven points and 15 rebounds are not the numbers that you (expect from your import),” Racela said. “We need to focus because we’re playing back to back. We have to be prepared in our next game (against Meralco).”