ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider KJ McDaniels makes winning return as Bolts shock Dragons

KJ McDaniels makes winning return as Bolts shock Dragons

Published Nov 4, 2022 06:13 pm

KJ McDaniels might just be the saving grace Meralco needed to pump some life to its flickering playoff hopes.

KJ McDaniels (PBA Images)

The returning import took charge as Meralco overcame the 50-point explosion from Andrew Nicholson to shock Bay Area, 92-89, and arrest a three-game slide in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 4.

McDaniels dropped 13 of his 31 points in the final frame, anchoring a 11-1 finishing kick in the final 4:40 of the contest to erase a seven-point deficit and come away with the victory that helped Meralco improve to a 2-5 record in the standings.

The former TNT and NLEX reinforcement looked exactly at home with the Bolts, collecting eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks although he still had some adjustments to do after needing 33 attempts to reach his output.

Meralco head coach Norman Black said the arrival of McDaniels was a breath of fresh air for the team as they hope to make a late push for the playoffs after opening the conference with a 1-5 slate.

“It’s just a tough win for us, it is something that we talked about and everything is possible even with all of the adversity that we’re facing right now. With KJ coming in we felt like we had a breath of fresh air and would give us a chance to win,” said Black.

“One thing I’m happy about which I haven’t been doing in the entire conference is with how we play defense tonight – something we haven’t been doing and something that we are known for,” he added.

Raymond Almazan and Allein Maliksi provided support to McDaniels with 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Bong Quinto also added 12.

Meralco actually seized control for the most part of the contest, even taking a 13-point lead in the first half. The Bolts, however, failed to protect their lead as Nicholson erupted for 20 points in the third quarter before joining hands with Kobey Lamb late in the final frame to shove the Dragons back to the driver's seat, 88-81, after back-to-back triples from the two.

McDaniels, though, scored five straight points before Bong Quinto and Almazan delivered huge baskets down the stretch to give Bolts the three-point cushion.

The Bolts then had to lean on their defense in the final possession as Bay Area still had the chance to send the game to the extra period but Lamb missed his last ditch three pointer allowing Meralco to escape with the win.

Nicholson, who finished with the first 50-point game since Shabazz Muhammad scored 57 points in 2019, shot 53-percent from the field including a 5-of-10 shooting from deep apart from his eight rebounds. Joining him in the scoring spree was Lamb who likewise finished with own season-high of 23 points along with nine rebounds.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.