Bolts eye EASL crown

MANILA, Philippines — PBA Meralco governor Atty. Bill Pamintuan said yesterday with two wins in the bag and three more regular season games left, the Bolts are on track to crash the EASL Final Four. “We’re representing the PBA and our country in EASL so the Bolts are exerting our best effort in every game and hopefully, get a chance to win the championship for the Filipino basketball fans,” said Pamintuan.

Last Wednesday, Akil Mitchell deliberately missed his second free throw and prevented Busan KCC Egis to call a timeout with 6.4 seconds left in preserving Meralco’s 81-80 win at the PhilSports Arena. If Mitchell converted, Egis would’ve called time, advanced the ball and set up for a last shot. With the miss, Egis got the rebound but had little time to put up a decent shot, hoisting a hurried triple at the buzzer. Mitchell said he decided to miss the free throw on his own. “I knew they wouldn’t have enough time to score even if they got the rebound,” he said. The miss ironically saved the win for Meralco.

“I didn’t know he missed intentionally,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. “Akil’s exactly whom we want and need.” Mitchell finished with 33 points and 22 rebounds. Pamintuan said Mitchell’s miss caught KCC by surprise.  “KCC didn’t anticipate Akil would miss since he had made 11 straight before missing the last one,” he said. “They were looking forward to a timeout to set up their last play. We actually discussed the option of missing the second free throw as Akil was about to take the shot. We were hoping he would miss. Luckily, Akil read our minds. We led early then got blitzed with an 11-0 run and never got back the lead until the last few seconds.” 

Meralco’s next games are a KCC rematch in Busan on Dec. 18, at home against Ryukyu on Jan. 22 and a road date with the New Taipei Kings on Feb. 12. The Final Four begins March 7 and the championship game is on March 9.