Meralco is hoping to celebrate Philippine Independence by breaking free from the shackles of its own Finals misfortunes on Wednesday, June 12.

The Bolts have never taken a 3-1 series lead in their first four appearances in the Finals and they aim to change that as they try to shove the San Miguel Beermen into the ropes in Game 4 of the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Meralco seized a 2-1 series lead twice in the Finals but ended up faltering in the next three games to lose the crown to Barangay Ginebra on both occasions  – a hump that the Bolts wanted to get over with in the contest that tips off at 7:30 p.m.

Also setting up the stage to the thrilling clash is the awarding of the Best Player of the Conference plum before the game.

Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo wants to make sure that his charges wouldn’t be too high nor too low after the team’s gutsy performance in the 93-89 Game 3 win. 

While it was a great momentum swinging win, the one-time champion coach is preaching that the Bolts should be laser focused more than ever in Game 4 which could be the series turning point.

“We have to, all the five guys inside have to make good decisions so they need to stay connected,” said Trillo who is also looking to polish some of the lapses they did in Game 3.

“They have to know what we're running, whatever defense we have, pick and roll defense, post defense, what we're running in the endgame, who were the points of attack. But this game may have been a win but clearly, we need to improve some things,” he added.

If there’s something that Meralco must continue doing, that should be their defense against seven-time June Mar Fajardo.

The 6-foot-10 behemoth was cut down to size in Game 3 as the quartet of bigs in Raymond Almazan, Norbert Torres, Cliff Hodge and Brandon Bates limited Fajardo to just five attempts despite playing for over 40 minutes.

He was also forced to make seven of SMB’s 15 errors which Meralco converted into 22 turnover points.

“Maganda yung depensa nila, maganda yung team game nila, maganda yung preparation nila kailangan naming i-counter yon,” said Fajardo who will need more from his crew especially their outside gunners to connect from deep and give him more space to operate inside the paint.

As for Meralco, Trillo said the Bolts must continue picking up the pace although he reminded his players to be wise especially in executing their halfcourt sets in what is expected to be another down the wire affair.