JASON BRICKMAN makes his highly-anticipated debut as Meralco tries to salvage history by becoming the first PBA team to make it to the Final Four of the East Asia Super League (EASL) Home and Away Season 3 (S3).
Picked seventh by the Bolts in last year’s draft, the Filipino-American ace is expected to provide massive boost when Meralco hosts the Ryukyu Golden Kings in a do-or-die set-to at 7:40 p.m. for EASL’s final preliminary match on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Mr. Brickman had to finish his duties in the MPBL, where he tallied 17 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists to win the Finals MVP award for champion team Abra Solid North Weavers.
Doing it even with the 34-year-old ace guard, however, would not be a walk in the park as the Bolts need more than just winning.
At 3-2 for third place in Group B, Meralco has to beat Ryukyu (4-1) by six or more points to snatch the second seed. Otherwise would lead to elimination yet again for a PBA team.
The Taoyuan Pilots are already assured of one of the two seeds but the Bolts also sport a chance to steal the No. 1 spot should they beat the Golden Kings by 20 or more points.
Meralco will be riding on a three-game streak and a rejigged roster to do the tall order, following a flat 0-2 start including an 81-72 road defeat to Ryukyu in Okinawa during the opener last year, to catch up and stay in contention.
The last win of the Bolts was a 93-91 escape act from the listless Macau Black Bears, who are set to serve as guest team in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup next month, marked by the unfortunate Achilles injury of on-loan TNT Tropang 5G import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
In his place, Meralco loaned incoming Commissioner’s Cup import Cady Lalanne from NLEX to join Gilas Pilipinas naturalized and resident Ginebra import Justin Brownlee (also on loan), Puerto Rico’s Ismael Romero and Asian reinforcement Sina Vahedi of Iran.
Spearheading the local crew to join Mr. Brickman are Cliff Hodge, CJ Cansino, Aaron Black, Brandon Bates, Raymond Almazan, Bong Quinto and Chris Banchero as team captain Chris Newsome’s status remains up in the air.
Mr. Newsome nursed a hyperextended left knee injury last month in Meralco’s 4-1 Philippine Cup semifinal series loss to TNT.
With or without Mr. Newsome though, the Bolts will try to lean on homecourt advantage for a shot at history as no PBA team had ever advanced to the Final Four of the fast-growing regional league. — John Bryan Ulanday
