Meralco looks fir its first Game 7 win against Barangay Ginebra in a playoff or championship series and Luigi Trillo, the coach who helped the Bolts in ousting the Gin Kings in the quarterfinal round of the Philippine Cup two years ago, is eyeing a repeat of another playoff victory against his former mentor, Tim Cone.
“Ginebra and Meralco, it’s such a rivalry,” said Trillo right after the Bolts extended the series to a rubber match following an 86-81 triumph in Game 6 of their best-of-seven semifinals duel last Wednesday.
“I thought we had to grind it out. It’s not over and this is what we want, a Game 7. Sana kami naman. You know, it’s good for the league and we earned it. We have a lot of respect for Ginebra and what they do and we know it’s going to be hard,” said Trillo.
“We’ve been there. The last eight conferences, we’ve been there six, seven times in the semifinals. These guys know what it takes to be there and they’re veterans as well. So we have to focus on that last game.”
Curiously, Trillo is no stranger to beating Cone in a playoff series.
In the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup, when Alaska won its last championship in the PBA, it was Trillo’s Aces who ousted Cone, then coaching San Mig Coffee, in the best-of-five semifinals series.
Two years ago, Trillo, then pinch-hitting for head coach Norman Black at Meralco, also beat Cone and the Gin Kings in their best-of-three Philippine Cup quarterfinals showdown.
Trillo is hoping the Game 7 setbacks the Bolts had, most of them coming at the hands of the Gin Kings, will come to an end when the two teams square off in another no tomorrow encounter for the right to face San Miguel in the championship series.
