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HOTTEST TEAMS START DUEL
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A grind-out game in a grind-out series.
That’s what Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao foresees and what the Elasto Painters are bracing for in the opener of their PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown with the Alaska Aces at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday.
“Alaska is the second hottest team right now. Forget about our first meeting against them. To think that something of that sort would happen again will be foolish on our part,” said Guiao.
“That happens once every 25 years. To bounce back strong after that loss to us tells you something about their character,” Guiao also said.
With a near flawless game, the E-Painters blew the Aces apart, 123-72, in their elims duel on June 4.
The Aces, however, quickly recovered from that deflating defeat and have since gone on a hot streak to be with the E-Painters, the Talk n Text Tropang Texters and the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in the Final Four.
Alaska and Rain or Shine have found themselves pitted in an interesting matchup.
They are a pair of independent teams seriously challenging the dominance of the power blocs in the league.
It’s a curious matchup between the only teams outside the SMC and the MVP Groups to have won a championship in the league in the last six seasons.
Alaska and Rain or Shine broke the PBA stranglehold of the high-profile SMC and MVP ball clubs with title runs in the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup and the 2012 Governors’ Cup, respectively.
And both are determined to have another shot at finishing ahead of the rest in this season-ending tourney.
They begin their battle, both riding the crest of searing streaks from the elims. The E-Painters have won all their last six games while the Aces have won their next four games after their 51-point blowout by Rain or Shine.
Alaska coach Alex Compton painted themselves as the underdogs versus Rain or Shine.
And as a neophyte coach, Compton said he’s odd man out in the company of coaches Guiao, Norman Black and Tim Cone in this Final Four.
“How many championships have they got. And me? I’m a month old in this job,” said Compton, smiling.
The Aces, however, are confident of matching up well with the Elasto Painters in the series.
“We just have to come out together us as team,” said Alaska chief playmaker Jayvee Casio.
Both possess deep, balanced benches. And they are likely to engage in a rugged, physical series with their bruisers and hard-nosed players.
The vastly improved Arizona Reid brings into the series his impressive averages of 30.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals as against Henry Walker’s 20.1 markers, 9.5 boards, 6.9 dish-offs and 1.1 steals. (SB)
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