RAIN OR SHINE TAKES EARLY LEAD
Jeff Chan broke out from his personal slump and the whole Rain or Shine team kept the sharpness shown in its quarters conquest of Barangay Ginebra as the Elasto Painters drubbed the San Mig Coffee Mixers, 91-83, in the opener of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
Chan bounced back from a 1-of-9 shooting the last time with an 18-point outing, a gritty effort very well complemented by the rest of the fierce-fighting RoS squad as the E-Painters gained the crucial head start in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s a long series and it’s just the first game. But you win the first, and you’re close to 70-percent chance of winning. We want to be in that position,” said RoS coach Yeng Guiao.
“You want to have any edge that you can get. We’re happy with the turnout,” Guiao added.
Chan put in 16 points in the first half, Larry Rodriguez and Ryan Arana took over combining for 18 points in the third quarter then the whole team made the push together in the payoff period in drawing first blood in the series.
Paul Lee and Rodriguez finished with 15 points each, Beau Belga wound up with 13 markers, six boards, five assists and two steals while Jervy Cruz added 15 boards and seven points.
As San Mig Coffee made its last hurrah, coming to within four at 81-85, Belga rose to the occasion for the E-Painters scoring on a one-hander, stealing to set up Gabe Norwood for two charities then making his own foul shots as RoS pulled away for good at 91-81.
“Jeff finally got his range back and he was a big help. Our biggest concern coming to this game was rebounding and I think we also did well on that department,” said Guiao.
“The bigger frontline of San Mig Coffee was a concern but we needed to just work harder than they did to at least equalize,” Guiao added. “We’re confident we can stay with them, we can match up with them. They’re the best defensive team but I know we’re the second best. We have two good defensive teams playing together and it’s a matter of execution.”
Obviously, the Elasto Painters executed better as they took control most of the way.
The E-Painters took San Mig ace gunner James Yap out of his comfort zone, limiting him to 11 points on 3-of-13 field shooting.
The two-time MVP awardee sat out the last two minutes after committing a crucial error.
San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone left the Big Dome right after the game. (SB)
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.
