The Blackwater Elite are on the verge of pulling off a massive upset as they are just one win away from knocking out No.1 seed Meralco Bolts in the Oppo PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
The Elite defeated the Bolts, 92-91, on Tuesday in a thriller that saw Allein Maliksi bury the game-winning basket.
“Kanina, the courtside reporter asked me, ‘How does it feel facing the no.1 team at the end of the eliminations?’ and I said, ‘It’s going to be tough to encourage the players that it was done before, the No. 1 team getting booted out by the last qualifier. All we have to do is play team basketball, give our 100 percent and maybe, we can be one of those teams which can boot out a no.1 team in the playoffs,'” Blackwater coach Leo Isaac said.
Isaac experienced first-hand what it was like to be on the other side of a No.8 vs No.1 upset. He was a member of the Mobiline Phone Pals coaching staff when Ginebra San Miguel, then an eighth-seeded squad, pulled off a king-sized upset over the top-ranked squad during their quarterfinal round showdown 18 years ago.
Isaac and his Elite can rewrite history with another win against the Bolts on Thursday.
“After this win, walang basketball yan, panay kuwentuhan lang yan. But the real organization will be tomorrow (Wednesday). Once we hit the gym, we have a small office there and the coaches will come to office early. We will lay the game plan. We will inform management of that game plan. We will run our system and we will prepare the players mentally for that game the following day,” he said.
Import Henry Walker is aware that the Bolts will be going all out to avoid a humiliating upset, and he said that his squad should brace for a tougher Meralco squad in their knockout game.
“We know we just woke up a monster,” said Walker. “I tried to warn the guys about that. We just poked the bear and the bear will turn around. We’ve got to be ready because they’re gonna be ready. I’ve got the utmost respect to coach (Norman) Black. I know they have a game plan and they’re gonna come back.”
