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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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25
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
25
2024
MORE than getting back on track is foremost on the minds of Rain or Shine and Blackwater when they collide Friday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A victory from a recent loss by either the Elasto Painters or Elite would give each at least a continued share of the leadership while the loser drops into seventh-running spot in the 11-game eliminations.
It is on their respective teams picking up the pieces that consumes Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia and Blackwater counterpart Leo Isaac more.
“We want to put our last game behind us, but at the same time take the lessons learned to heart,” said Garcia, whose team lost to Barangay Ginebra 74-81 last Sunday, its first setback after opening up the season with two straight wins.
“After losing our game versus TNT last week we will try our very best tomorrow to bounce back and get a win versus Rain or Shine,” said Isaac, whose charges saw their best-ever 2-0 start cut short by a 92-99 defeat to the Texters last Saturday.
The Elite actually gave their more fancied rivals a tough stance, but could not get the job done after closing to within 92-96 down the stretch.
Ditto for the E-Painters, who matched the recently-crowned Governors Cup champion Kings’ pace for majority of the game before going scoreless in the last four minutes of play despite 12 field goal attempts.
Garcia said his team’s meltdown was caused more by a lack of ball movement and its inability to follow his gameplan when it mattered most.
“The problem in the fourth quarter was we dribbled the ball too much, we were trying to force shots, and we’re not looking at the bigs anymore,” rued Garcia.
Blackwater simply could not handle the double-edged weapon TNT has in Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo and now must deal with Rain or Shine’s more unpredictable sources of offense.
Jeff Chan is sure to be looking to bounce back big-time from a three-point game against Ginebra while the likes of Jericho Cruz, James Yap, Beau Belga, Maverick Ahanmisi, Jay Washington and Raymond Almazan are always a threat.
After averaging 21.o points and 8.0 rebounds his first three games, Mac Belo is sure to be a marked man anew so Art dela Cruz, Kyle Pascual, John Pinto, Reil Cervantes and Denok Miranda must lead those who should step up for Isaac.
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