Maliksi, Bolts vow to go for broke vs Gin Kings

MANILA, Philippines -- “All out.”

Allein Maliksi and the Meralco Bolts are aiming to go all out as they eye to go to their first-ever PBA Philippine Cup finals.

They will be facing Barangay Ginebra in the all-or-nothing Game 7 Friday. 7:30 p.m., at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas.

Maliksi, who exploded in Meralco’s 86-81 win in Game 6 of the semifinals, said that it will come down to who wants the win more.

“Game 7, all out. It comes out to whoever… yung talagang gustong manalo, ibibigay lahat, at iyong magpapakamatay para manalo,” he told reporters.

“Iyon ang magbibigay ng difference.”

After a slow start in Game 6, Maliksi scored 12 points in the final quarter that helped Meralco keep the Gin Kings at bay.

The big performance proved what Maliksi’s former coach – current head coach Tim Cone – told him during their time together with the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers.

“Sabi nga ni Coach Tim when I was playing sa San Mig, magkakasama kami, we fought a lot of Game 7s, do or die. Sabi niya it comes down to the players talaga,” he stressed.

“Kung paano mag-eexecute, alam niyo na lahat ng gameplan ng kalaban, ng binabatong kalaban, it’s all about the players who really want to win that will come out with the victory,” he added.

Cone and Maliksi won multiple championships together.

During that time, the 36-year-old was one of the youngsters of the team filled with veterans such as James Yap and PJ Simon.

“Kailangan talaga paghandaan, as a veteran kailangan mag-step up ka during those moments.”

The sweet-shooting forward also underscored how hard it is to go against the “genius” Cone.

“It’s really hard talaga na kalaban si Coach Tim kasi he’s really genius in terms of coaching, system and strategies. Tapos kasama pa si Coach Richard [del Rosario,] yung tandem nila talagang magaling. Imagine how many championships and yung percentages of winning nila,” he said.

“We really have to be prepared and talagang kailangan namin na walang lapses sa [game]. Kailangan, well-executed ang game plans.”