CRUCIAL TIME FOR TEXTERS, E-PAINTERS
TALK N Text may have jumped the gun on Rain or Shine in their PBA Philippine Cup championship series and now has history on its side. But Tropang Texters coach Norman Black is not dwelling on those facts too much.
Instead, his focus has already shifted to Game 2 Friday of the best-of-seven duel at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“Despite the fact we are up 1-0 right now, this is where the fun begins for the coaches,” said Black following his team’s 87-81 win in the series opener last Wednesday.
In a PBA Finals, the last eight Game One winners, 11 of the last 13, and 15 of the last 18 went on to win the title. In its five PBA Finals appearances over the last six conferences, TNT won Game 1 three times and went on to win the championship.
If the current Texters live up to the trend, they should be well on their way to a third straight Philippine Cup crown and the golden Jun Bernardino Trophy awarded to the conference three-peater.
Don’t tell that to Black, though.
“I’m sure coach Yeng (Guiao of Rain or Shine) will be making adjustments for the next game, so we have to figure out what those will be and try to counter them,” said Black. “It’s a good start for us, but at the same time we know we have to win Game 2 and really get ahead in this series. Otherwise we know they can bounce back.”
Rain or Shine intends to do just that, its confidence bolstered by the fact there is little tinkering needed in its gameplan.
“The statistics, the numbers, will indicate we beat them in most departments,” pointed out Guiao, referring to such facets of the game as offensive rebounding, assists and turnover and fastbreak points.
Except in three-point shooting. While the Texters made 10 of 27 attempts from beyond the arc the E-Painters went 4-for-21 and there, according to Guiao, lies the biggest difference.
“It’s important we’re able to connect with our perimeter shots to open up some driving lanes,” explained Guiao. “The middle was just clogged, too tight for us. We (should be able) to balance our offense with a running game, our offensive rebounding and hit some three-point shots. That’s the key for us.”
A good start and a fitting finish is also needed.
After making its first attempt from the field, Rain or Shine went 1-for-11 and committed three turnovers in the next six minutes, went on to trail by as many as 18 points in the second quarter and played catch up the rest of the way.
Despite their shooting woes, the Elasto Painters still pulled to within 76-79 with still 3:15 left in the game, before losing steam down the stretch. Paul Lee missed a drive, Jeff Chan missed a triple try and lost the ball and Gabe Norwood split his charities in the stretch.
“We missed some free throws at a crucial time, had a chance on the return play with Paul’s layup, hindi pumasok. Those two big plays cost us,” noted Guiao.
Credit should also go to Larry Fonacier draining a clutch corner three to make it an 82-76 game and Jayson Castro scoring on a twisting drive that maintained the six-point difference and Jared Dillinger taking the ball from Chan that protected TNT’s 84-79 lead.
The tight finish was exactly what Black projects the remainder of the series to go.
“We’re playing Rain or Shine, it’s a very tough team,” he stated. “We don’t have any expectation going into this series that we will beat them by a big margin. We know they’re a going to fight to the end. We’re just trying to win games. If we can by half a point that’s good enough for me.” (NC)
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