'Surreal' feeling for Trillo as Meralco wins first PBA title

Finally, the Meralco Bolts are PBA champions.

After 14 years since joining the league, and four heartbreaking finals losses, the Bolts won the All-Filipino crown against a mighty San Miguel squad.

For head coach Luigi Trillo, it was surreal that Meralco finally won one.

"[It's] surreal for us. We've been together, we've been working closely together so I'm just proud of the way these guys battled through it. It was one of those series that was very close every game. It came down to the wire again," Trillo said in a post-game conference.

"They found a way, they kept on staying on and they showed some composure in that second half for us."

Trillo was the first to admit that the Bolts' road to the crown was not that smooth as bumps were present along the way. However, he is still proud of the fact that his players had to earn the title the hard way.

Before getting the crown, the Bolts finished third with six wins and five losses behind San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra.

Meralco then swept NLEX in the quarterfinals, then won against Barangay Ginebra in seven games in the semifinals.

In the finals series alone, most of the games went down wire-to-wire against the valiant Beermen.

"I'm proud the guys stepped up. We went through a lot of adversity, a lot of tough times, the playoffs game, Ginebra, and then San Miguel. For some of those guys, we're happy for them," Trillo said as some of his Meralco players like Cliff Hodge and Chris Banchero waited for more than a decade to be called PBA champions.

"It wasn't easy getting there. They've been through four finals appearances. A lot of pain. To gut it out this way, to really earn it, I'm saying about getting respect, it's very fulfilling for us." 

"We really had to earn this one."

This is Trillo's second PBA title as a head coach after steering the Alaska Aces to the 2013 Commissioner's Cup crown. He became the head coach for Meralco in May 2023.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News