Good for the Meralco Bolts, they had a standby import in Mario West.
The three-year NBA veteran is back in the country, suiting up for Meralco as a replacement to DJ Kennedy who was measured above the 6-foot-5 limit for imports in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
West and the Bolts start their campaign in the season-ending PBA tourney going up against the Petron Blaze Boosters at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Under new coaches Gie Abanilla and Todd Purves, the Boosters will be reinforced by Elijah Millsap, younger brother of Atlanta Hawks forward Paul.
“All systems go for us. Mario said he is in good basketball shape and hopefully he can turn in the numbers that he produced for us the last time he was here,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.
West, who averaged 30.1 points a game with the Bolts last season, flew in just Thursday morning.
“Defense will be our main weapon this conference. With West on board, our defensive lock-down mentality must be enforced specially against a strong Petron team,” Gregorio said.
“We must be sharp on defense, quick on our feet in transition to score easy baskets and accurate in our perimeter game,” he added. “Faced against a strong team like Petron, we must be very aggressive, and dictate the tempo of the game.”
In Millsap, the Bolts face a player who is said to be capable of playing both the wing and post spots.
Interesting to see is how the Boosters play under their new coaches.
“I’m really excited about the game tomorrow (Friday) and I just hope we could come out on top,” said Abanilla, the man taking over the Petron coaching reins from Olsen Racela.
Listed as consultant and first assistant is Purves, a champion coach with the Indonesian team in the ASEAN Basketball League.
Petron tweaked its lineup a bit, bringing Paolo Hubalde back from the ABL and acquiring Jason Deutschman and Doug Kramer through trades.
Meralco also has new recruits in Noy Baclao, John Wilson and Allan Mangahas. (SB)
Source: http://pba.inquirer.net/28633/bolts-bring-west-back-vs-millsap-boosters
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