Newsome unfazed by Bolts’ situation

Chris Newsome has a lot of faith in his squad. —MARLO CUETO

Chris Newsome refuses to be fazed by Meralco’s situation in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.

Trailing TNT, 3-2, in the best of series makes him more motivated.

“There’s still a long way to go. For us, this is the position we’ve been waiting for, to be in a do or die situation,” Newsome told the Inquirer after their Game 5 loss to the Tropang 5G at the Araneta Coliseum on Friday.

“We really have to come out and perform now. It’s tough to win two games in a row in a series and everyone knows adjustments will be made.”

Following Meralco’s 103-95 loss, TNT gained a twice to beat advantage in the series.

Newsome, though, has experience going through this need for urgency before. Most of those times, they came out on top.

“There’s still hope, games to be played and I’m really positive about the outlook that we have,” he said, after struggling with just 10 points and four rebounds. “By no means are we out yet, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played.”

Even TNT veteran Jayson Castro understands how Newsome feels.

“Every game, for us, is a do or die game,” he said. “We’ve been in the situation they were in at the start of the conference. We had to win twice in the quarterfinals. I think we’re still more eager to win.”

Newsome and company hope to bring the series to a decider on Sunday when Game 6 rolls on at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo. INQ