Trillo: “Nobody remembers second place.”

The Meralco Bolts are one step away from winning their first PBA championship and are determined not to let this golden opportunity slip away.

Their first chance to close out the series will come Sunday night in Game 6 of the Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, where a franchise that has missed out on a title so many times can make those losses a distant memory with another win against the championship-favorite San Miguel Beermen.

“Nobody remembers second place. You have to win one to earn respect,” coach Luigi Trillo said late Friday after the Bolts won Game 5, 92-88, to take a 3-2 series lead.

History is in Meralco’s favor, as 15 of the 19 teams that have had a decisive advantage in the finals by winning Game 5 in the past 12 years have gone on to win the championship trophy.

But San Miguel is no stranger to overcoming such close calls, having come from behind to pull off series comeback wins against Magnolia and TNT in the 2019 and 2022 Philippine Cups, respectively.

The Beermen have ridden themselves of an even deeper hole before, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to surprise Alaska in the 2015-2016 Philippine Cup finals.

The clanging sound echoes.

The potential stepping stone to the finals, or even Game 7, is whether the Bolts can finally pull off a win after narrowly losing their previous four finals appearances, all against Barangay Ginebra.

Meralco, under the collective guidance of Trillo, incumbent consultant Nenad Vucinic and the rest of the coaching staff, effectively dictated the tempo of the series with their defense, preventing San Miguel from scoring at least 90 points in all three of their victories.

The only time San Miguel topped 100 points was when the Beermen won Game 4 on Independence Day, scoring 111 points.

Chris Newsome overcame early struggles to step up when it mattered most and got plenty of support on the offensive end afterwards, especially from Alain Maliksi, who was emboldened by the headlines after his poor Game 4 performance, scoring 22 points to tie Meralco’s top player.

The Bolts’ defense was also key, as they rattled the Beermen’s support in game after game and June Mar Fajardo was the driving force with a season-high 38 points.

If Meralco can once again manage to make things difficult for the opposition, despite being under attack from several players other than Newsom and his key players, they may be in line to win the Jun Bernardo Perpetual Trophy at the end of the game.

“We’re ready,” Trillo said. “It’s the first opportunity between two Filipinos, so we have to enjoy the situation, but we know San Miguel is talented. [of coming back].

“clearly, [the series] It depends on what they want to do and what we want to do. But that’s the beauty of it. They have their offense and we have our defense. We just need to stay focused and go out there and play.”