STICKING WITH THE PLAN

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PETRON Blaze appears to have been run to the ground by Rain or Shine at the start of their PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series.

That doesn’t mean the Boosters are about to make a drastic shift from their preferred game when they clash anew with the Elasto Painters 8 p.m. Wednesday  at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“We have different styles,” insisted Petron coach Gee Abanilla, whose team has mainly relied on its halfcourt offense and plans to do so again despite adverse results in the best-of-seven opener.

For Rain or Shine, it’s a matter of continuing to do what it did so well in the opener. For Petron, it’s about making the necessary adjustments.

The E-Painters notched a 103-95 win last Monday, when they generally utilized a fast-paced tempo to score majority of their points in transition.

Rain or Shine scored 35 fastbreak points on 20 attempts and also had 24 markers off Petron’s season-high 25 turnovers.

The net result was the E-Painters seizing control right in the first quarter and leading by as much as 65-48 in the third before easily fending off the Boosters’ last-ditch fightback in the stretch.

“We want it fast, we want it in the open court,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, referring to his younger players. “We’re ready to play a long series. We’re ready to play at a fast, furious pace.”

Abanilla takes some comfort in the knowledge the series still has a long way to go, but the crucial adjustments must be made now and mostly it’s mental.

“They (E-Painters) really played hard. But more than that, we’ve got to have the mentality that this is the semifinals and we have to play in that kind of atmosphere,” said Abanilla.

“Definitely, mentally we should be at that level.”

Abanilla was mainly talking about how his players deal with the physicality that the referees let go.

“We saw first-hand, it’s really physical out there,” he added. “We were bothered offensively. If we don’t get those calls, we take bad shots. That resulted in a lot of turnover points, transition points and second chance points. All hustle points,” said Abanilla.

“The normal things in the elimination, we cannot get now because this is a new level. Pinapayagan na nila. We just have to adjust.”

Additional testament to Abanilla’s words was June Mar Fajardo, focal point of Petron’s inside game, committing eight turnovers that somehow negated his 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The snipers who should have helped stretch the defense were not there. Marcio Lassiter scattered 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, but by then those were too little too late, while Chris Lutz and Alex Cabagnot scored only four points each.

Guiao had no such problem despite JR Quinahan sitting the game out due to a right knee injury. Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Ryan Arana and Alex Nuyles all pushed the ball and set the tempo for Rain or Shine while Beau Belga, Larry Rodriguez, Raymond Almazan and Jervy Cruz made life hard for Fajardo.

Some positives were still pointed out by Abanilla, like Paolo Hubalde and Jojo Duncil giving him quality minutes and that, despite his team’s woes, Petron managed to whittle the deficit to just five in the late goings.

“I think some of the players who played well gave us a glimpse of hope during the ballgame. We could have easily caught up. In the end, we have to manage it also,” said Abanilla. (NC)

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