AFTER a short break, PBA Season 49 resumes with the Meralco Bolts kicking off their Philippine Cup title defense versus the Converge FiberXers in a Friday mainer at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Bolts and the FiberXers square off at 7:30 p.m. in a duel of teams with respectable showing in the Commissioner's Cup elims but failing to make it past the quarterfinals.
Both lost a deciding game in a best-of-three series, with coach Luigi Trillo's troops dispatched by the Barangay Gin Kings and coach Franco Atienza's chargers booted out by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
The Bolts suffered from injuries to key players while the FiberXers came up short in going deep in the playoffs but nonetheless had a notable showing marked by sterling games of guys like Alec Stockton, Jordan Heading and Deschon Winston.
Of course, there's the pair of behemoths Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar who are likely to pose big problems to Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge.
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And the question is the readiness of Allein Maliksi and Brandon Bates coming from injuries.
Maliksi and Bates along with Almazan, Hodge, Chris Newsome, Chris Banchero, Bong Quinto and Anjo Caram formed the main core group carrying the Bolts to a first PBA title in Season 48 All-Filipino.
And it was a huge feat for Meralco then with the Bolts ending years of frustrations and disappointments with a conquest of June Mar Fajardo and the mighty Beermen in six games of a best-of-seven finale.
Reaching only the quarterfinals of the next two tourneys, the Bolts hope to perform better, with an immediate goal of starting strong in the tourney.
They have an interesting first week schedule, playing the FiberXers at NAS Friday then the San Miguel Beermen in the league's 50th founding anniversary Wednesday.
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The Bolts and the Beermen slug it out at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in their retro jerseys - or their uniforms back in their MICAA days.(SB)
