Left to pick its poison by Ginebra in the Game 1 loss, Meralco made sure to not commit the same mistake and pick the better choice to even the series.

The Bolts executed what seemed to be a brilliant defensive adjustment in Game 2, giving up the space for Christian Standhardinger to operate for a career-high performance but made sure that the rest of the Kings’ guns would go eerily silent in the 101-93 win that knotted the series at 1-1.

Standhardinger exploded for a career-high 41 points but there was basically no one after him with Maverick Ahanmisi and Stanley Pringle adding only 14 and 13 points, respectively. 

It was the exact opposite in the series opener when the 34-year-old Fil-German center only had 14 points but Ginebra flaunted a more balanced scoring with Pringle erupting for 22, Ralph Cu firing 18, and Japeth Aguilar chipping in 17.

Turned out it was a ploy that Meralco was willing to give in Game 2 as part of its defensive adjustment.

“There’s certain things that we are giving up and there are certain things that we are taking away and in the seven-game series the more we do those things better, we have a better chance,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo.

However, the plan seemed to almost backfired on the Bolts when Standhardinger singlehandedly carried Ginebra on his back in the second half, pouring 28 of his total output. 

The burly center had 18 points in the third frame, equalizing the entire quarter scoring of the Bolts to help the Kings erase a 17-point deficit.

Without any help, however, Standhardinger looked a little winded in the final frame which Raymond Almazan, Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi made sure to take advantage to deliver the killing blows.

“We’re okay letting one guy go off  if that means that everybody else is cold and doesn't have their rhythm because at the end of the day  all we need is the win,” said Newsome whose Bolts were no longer stranger to such defensive plans after they also did it against Robert Bolick who erupted for 48 points in Game 1 of their quarterfinals matchup.

Like Standhardinger, Bolick was left to fight for the Road Warriors before his efforts went down the drain after the Bolts took the win, 97-93.

“At the end of the game, if we are the one who prevailed then we did our job despite how many  points our opponent had. That’s the main thing,” added Newsome.

“Proud the way our guys fought today, our bigs, multiple guys on him. Standhardinger is going to score he’s gonna try to free up the other guys. I hear it a lot, pick your poison so kailangan basahin namin what we are willing to give up,” echoed Trillo.