Meralco downplays Game 1 win vs Beermen

MANILA, Philippines -- “There's so much work that needs to be done.”

Despite winning their first-ever PBA Philippine Cup finals game and going up 1-0 against the San Miguel Beermen, the Meralco Bolts’ job is far from finished, guard Chris Newsome stressed.

Meralco on Wednesday took Game 1 of the best-of-seven PBA All-Filipino Conference championship round over the defending champions, 93-86.

The Bolts held the Beermen to their lowest scoring output this conference.

Newsome, who led the winning team with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals, said that while winning the first game is “always a big help,” there are still three more wins to focus on.

“Winning Game 1 is always a big help, but by no means are we happy or satisfied. It’s just one game,” he told reporters after the game.

Newsome looked back to their semifinals clash with Barangay Ginebra, wherein the first game was taken by the Gin Kings as well.

They would then win the next two games, before losing the next two and face a 2-3 series disadvantage. The Bolts would force Game 7 and win it to set the Finals date with the explosive Beermen.

“You can look back to our last series against Ginebra. They won Game 1 and we ended up winning the series so it doesn’t necessarily mean because we won Game 1, we won the series. There’s so much more work that needs to be done.”

The 33-year-old Newsome also tipped his hat to teammates Cliff Hodge, Raymond Almazan and Brandon Bates, who made big plays down the stretch to secure the victory.

While all three did not record huge scoring outputs, Hodge hauled down 15 rebounds, Almazan had seven boards and Bates swatted away four blocks.

“Those things are intangibles that help us so much. This is definitely a team game and we got so much more that we have to do,” he said.

“It’s just one game. We got another one on Friday so we gotta get ready for that one.”

The Bolts will try to go up 2-0 on Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.