E-PAINTERS PLAY KINGS IN GRUDGE MATCH
Rain or Shine fell down in a crushing defeat in the last conference, blowing away its twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals as second seed versus Barangay Ginebra.
To get back at the Kings is one of the Elasto Painters’ motivations as Rain or Shine and Ginebra clash in a crucial tiff in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday.
Needless to say, another motivation by the E-Painters is to boost their bid for the same win-once bonus in the quarters of the season-ending tourney.
The Kings, meanwhile, virtually fight for survival as they battle the E-Painters at 6 p.m.
RoS shares second place with Barako Bull, San Mig Coffee and Meralco at 4-3 while Ginebra is buried deep down the chart at 2-4.
The E-Painters set out for the game riding the momentum of a 120-93 rout of Barako Bull Sunday – the best game of the Asian Coating Inc. in a long while.
“It’s big considering mabigat ang mga huling laban namin. It would help shore up our confidence,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
The Kings, meanwhile, dropped three of their last four games, the last in a game they were favored to win facing a badly crippled San Mig Coffee team (minus Marc Pingris and Joe Devance).
Four days after being limited to the lowest output (76 points) in the conference, the Elasto Painters made a giant turnaround, striking with their output in blowing away the Energy Cola.
The E-Painters came out with an amazing effort minus two key players Paul Lee and Chris Tiu and got back into strong contention for a Top Four finish in the elims.
“We finally played well. We just looked to score and it paid off,” said Guiao.
“We really prepared hard for the game but I wasn’t sure if our offense would click. Our offense was awful as we lost three of our last three games,” Guiao also said. “I just told the guys to forget the stats, the numbers and the misses we’ve been through.”
In this cold, stormy night, the E-Painters finally went hot, torching the badly stunned Energy Cola with at least 28 points in each quarter.
Gilas Pilipinas heroes Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood regained their bearing, putting in their worthiest performance in their return to their mother team.
Averaging just 5.6 points, Chan finally rediscovered his touch, leading all local scorers with 20 markers spiked by 4-of-5 three-pointers. He was 3-of-25 from beyond the arc in their previous games.
Norwood chipped in 11 points, including a highlight slam giving Rain or Shine its biggest lead of 29, 120-91, with 1:10 left to play. The 6-foot-4 guard/forward also logged seven assists and three rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
The whole RoS team went 9-of-28 from the three-point land and 44-of-88 in all in field shooting as the E-Painters clobbered the Energy Cola, surpassing Petron’s 26-point conquest of Air21 (112-86) last Aug. 28.
The E-Painters stormed out of the starting block, 21-4, and dominated the contest to the finish, dealing the Energy Cola their worst defeat in two years. (SB)
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