FINDING WAYS
RAIN or Shine has found ways to win despite some atrocious shooting in at least a couple of games.
Whether that would still hold true should be seen Saturday when the Elasto Painters clash with Meralco Saturday in a PBA Philippine Cup road game sponsored by Petron Blaze at the USEP Gym in Davao City.
Rain or Shine is looking for a third straight win and to break out of its current tie with idle Talk N Text while Meralco is gunning to replace its foe for the slot alongside the Tropang Texters, overlying themes that should make up for an exciting match.
The Bolts are coming off a 72-80 loss to Talk N Text last Tuesday and are aiming to put the lessons learned from that defeat to good use against the E-Painters.
Meralco coach Norman Black wants his team to do just that.
“Against Rain or Shine we need to bring the same energy level that we displayed versus Talk N Text, but do a better job of executing in the endgame,” said Black.
Black’s statement has a solid foundation since foremost among those which came to the fore for Meralco in the TNT game was its inability to prevent the Texters from a big windup from a 69-68 count.
What TNT pulled off was eerily similar to what Rain or Shine did in escaping with an 86-83 win over GlobalPort just a day later.
In the Batang Pier game, the E-Painters missed 12 of 31 free throws and came up with bricks in 48 of 78 shots from the field. Good thing there was Jeff Chan rediscovering his fiery touch for 11 straight points in the fourth quarter that gave them momentum.
It was not the first time Rain or Shine narrowly avoided the axe.
Against Blackwater some three weeks earlier the E-Painters went 0-for-25 from beyond the arc, the league’s all-time worst for a game, and trailed early but still came out on top through endgame savvy borne of experience.
Yet like in the aforementioned instance, Guiao’s charges managed to display poise and savvy when it mattered to scrape out the wins.
Black has a ready gameplan. “Transition defense and perimeter defense will be a priority, especially versus Paul Lee and Jeff Chan,” he said.
Chan and Lee are indeed Rain or Shine’s main weapons, combining for a little over 25 points per outing.
Meralco has its own gunners in Gary David, Cliff Hodge, Sean Anthony and Reynel Hugnatan, but the E-Painters also boast of Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga, JR Quinahan and Raymund Almazan. (NC)
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