MANILA: The Meralco Bolts made an electrifying debut in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), stunning the crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra Kings, 73-72, Sunday night as the 36th season of the league opened at the Araneta Coliseum. Macmac Cardona sank the winning basket with his patented teardrop shot off Eric Menk and Ronald Tubid with 32.4 seconds left. He finished with 12 points on top of six rebounds and four assists. The Kings had two chances to grab back the lead, but Willie Miller missed an open jumper with 18 seconds left. After a flurry of missed free throws by the Bolts, the Kings again had a chance to win the game. But with 2.5 seconds to go, Miller lost control of the ball on an inbound play. He managed to save the ball from going out of bounds and passed it to Jayjay Helterbrand who made a desperation shot that clanked out. Acquired by Meralco from Talk N Text in a major trade involving three teams, Cardona lived up to his billing as the newest Philippine Basketball Association ballclub's go-to guy as he led the Bolts in overtaking a 70-65 Ginebra lead with five minutes left in the game. Nelbert Omolon topscored for the Bolts with 14 points spiced with 14 rebounds. Tubid and JC Intal led the Kings with 11 points each, while Miller added 10. Miller's last two points gave the Kings what proved to be their last taste of the lead, 72-71 before Cardona nailed the game winner. Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio said defense won the game for his team. “The good thing about this team is that we watch each other's backs. We bailed out Mac-Mac when he missed two free throws, and we bailed out Asi when he missed two free throws – all because of defense,” Gregorio said after the game. Cardona said he was lucky to score the winning basket. “Coach Ryan (Gregorio) kept on egging me during the timeout to keep on shooting no matter what happens,” the former hot shot from the De La Salle University said. Earlier the game was billed as a battle between height and speed as Meralco boasts of a towering frontcourt while Ginebra has an army of shorter but speedier guards. Leading the Bolts' frontcourt are the twin towers Marlou Aquino and Asi Taulava, both standing at 6'9”. Taulava, the one-time league Most Valuable Player (MVP), came on board barely two weeks before the season-opening tournament following a three-team trade consummated among the Bolts, the Barako Bull Energy Boosters and Asi's former team, the Powerade Tigers. For good measure, Meralco also has burly 6-foot-5 center Beau Belga. In contrast, Ginebra has a squadron of guards in Miller, Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa, Tubid and JC Intal. The Kings added more guards in their roster with the acquisition of rookies John Wilson, Jimbo Aquino and Robert Labagala during the off season.
