A TEST OF METTLE
BARAKO Bull has just admittedly escaped with a “lucky” win.
More than luck is necessary if it hopes to win Tuesday against a Rain or Shine crew aiming to turn around its own fortunes in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Energy need another victory to claim solo second-running spot and assure themselves of a spot in the next round while the Elasto Painters are looking to correct a campaign that has suddenly gone on a rollercoaster turn.
For Barako active consultant Rajko Toroman, his team must first show up with a game much improved than what it showed in a 98-97 squeaker over GlobalPort just last Sunday.
“We will try to play better than (what we did) against GlobalPort,” said the Serbian, referring to the way his charges capped a rally from 18 points down in the third period by outscoring the Batang Pier, 30-14, in the fourth canto.
Rain or Shine, meanwhile, is coming off a 72-86 loss to Meralco last Friday in a game where the defending champion shot just 31-for-88 from the field, including 4-for-27 from beyond the arc.
Toroman knows that loss is going to make the E-Painters more dangerous.
“It will be a difficult game for us. Rain or Shine is coming off a loss and they are fresh,” noted Toroman. “They are a great team with lots of individual quality.”
So does Barako, which is led by the hard-working Mike Singletary. The former Texas Tech star and Santa Cruz Warriors campaigner in the NBA D-League is coming off a PBA career-high 43-point game against GlobalPort that jacked his average to 36.17 points, not to mention 14.33 rebounds.
The Energy also have Danny Seigle and Emman Monfort, who has ably taken over the starting point guard chores in lieu of the injured Jonas Villanueva, and have welcomed back former starting center Enrico Villanueva.
Rain or Shine also has its own weapons, led by Arizona Reid and Paul Lee. Reid is averaging 28 points and 15.7 rebounds and Lee 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
The other Elasto Painters must step up, however. Since his Gilas Pilipinas stint Jeff Chan has visibly struggled with just an average of 5.6 points while national teammate Gabe Norwood is veritably a non-factor in offense with 3.8 ppg.
What Norwood and Jireh Ibanes can do is stifle the other team’s best offensive player and Singletary is sure to be hard-pressed. (NC)
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