SIMPLY PUT, ROS MADE MORE SHOTS – COACH JONG

Left to rue the aftermath of their 17-point meltdown, Talk ‘N Text coach Jong Uichico offered no excuses as Rain or Shine equalized the Finals Friday.

“We lost it,” he quipped.

“It doesn’t mean that when you’re up by so many points in the first half, generally you can duplicate that in the second half. They made their adjustments also. They scored a lot. We know they’re capable of scoring a lot. We just didn’t defend the way we should have.”

Reverting back to what he said in the pre-Finals conference, Uichico said that the game will depend on who will shoot better. And with Rain or Shine going 42-of-85 from the field against the Tropang Texters’ 37-of-71, the multi-titled mentor could only repeat what he initially said.

“Again, at the end of the day, the ones who make the shots will be the ones who will win. We made shots, but they made more shots,” he said.

Uichico also quashed the notion that the Tropang Texters are being too reliant to Jayson Castro, who exploded for a career-high 44 points in the defeat and has been stellar throughout the conference.

“I don’t think so. We’ve got other options naman. We just have to find it during the game where we can attack other than Jayson,” he said. “Syempre, they’ll find ways to stop Jayson so we have to find help and give Jayson a bit of a rest. It’s not like it’s always Jayson.”

With Rain or Shine now being able to go over the hump that was Talk ‘N Text for the first time in four conferences, Uichico reiterated that the numbers don’t really tell the whole story and the Tropang Texters really are in a war for the right to be called Commissioner’s Cup champions.

“No one said that this series is going to be easy. It’s only a perception that this series is going to be one, but it’s not,” he said.

Game 3 will be played Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. (RL)

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