HUNGRY FOR MORE
Rain or Shine’s 111-90 quarterfinals victory over Air21 marks the squad’s sixth consecutive victory in the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup, easily making them the hottest team in the league right now.
And for Paul Lee, the biggest reason for that is their defense.
“Yun yung mas pinagtutuunan namin ng pansin,” he said. “Ilang games na namin na-limit yung kalaban namin sa mababang points lang kaya sana, magtuloy-tuloy yung ganung intensity namin kasi pagka dumepensa kami, ang dali na ng offense eh.”
The Tondo native had nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter of the rout, powered by 3-of-7 shooting from threes, to go with his six rebounds and three assists.
“Yun lang yung pinaplano namin every game,” he said.
It also helps that their import, Arizona Reid, is a great fit to their squad despite being one of the smallest reinforcements in the season-ending conference.
“Sinabi lang namin na kada miss or make, we need to run, lalo na yung kind of import na meron kami, takbo lang kami ng takbo. Bagay na bagay si AZ sa amin,” Lee said.
The Elasto Painters have now made the semis in eight of the last 10 conferences, and has been a part of the top four in five of the last six conferences.
“For me, that’s a big accomplishment and a big accomplishment for our organization,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
This constant winning culture is a positive, Lee said, but he hopes that this time around, they can win it all.
“Siguro naging habit na rin namin na nasa semis,” he said. “Pero sana this time, malagpasan naman namin yung semis kasi third time na ni AZ sa team. Last time na dumating sya dito sa amin, pagdating ng semis, injured na yung mga players namin eh. Plus kakarating lang nun ni Gabe (Norwood) and Jeff (Chan) galing Gilas so pagod na pagod talaga yung utak nila.”
Lee added, “Ngayon, sa tingin ko mas maganda yung laban namin sa semifinals kasi nakapagpahinga kami lahat at healthy kaming lahat.” (RL)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
