Rain or Shine beats Star minus Paul Lee in season opener
Rain or Shine’s Jericho Cruz (middle) skies for the layup against two Star defenders. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Hitting a good rhythm in the second half, Rain or Shine came from behind to repulse Star, 96-87, in the inaugural of PBA Season 41 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Wednesday.
JR Quinahan provided the initial spark then Jericho Cruz and Beau Belga kept the fire to the finish, giving the Elasto Painters a winning start in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup.
Chris Tiu, Raymond Almazan and Gabe Norwood had significant help as the Elasto Painters overcame the absence of Paul Lee and a tough grind versus the Hotshots and their debuting coach Jason Webb.
“It’s actually an ugly win. We couldn’t get any rhythm in the first half. We just tried to be patient with our execution, and the patience paid off,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
“It was difficult expecting to play on Sundaythen playing Wednesday. Ang daming adjustments. All resulted positively fortunately for us,” Guiao also said.
Settling down in the second half, the E-Painters charged back from an early 12-point deficit, getting to within a point, 70-69, in the third quarter then completely turning the game around in the final canto.
Quinahan struck hard towards the end of the third and at the start of the fourth, then Belga took over before fouling out with 1:50 left to play.
The E-Painters had seized control at 92-81 when Belga took the exit.
Quinahan led all scorers with 17 points that went with eight rebounds, four blocks and two assists while Belga added 11 markers, including eight in Rain or Shine’s lethal 13-6 tear from a 79-75 count.
“There are a lot of adjustments — adjustments to the new calls, to my rookies, to our new acquisitions. I had some doubts earlier especially without Paul (Lee),” Guiao also said. “Eventually, we settled down, got a rhythm going and that’s the key.”
From a 12-point deficit at 11-23, the E-Painters trailed all the way until Quinahan sparked the team’s first important run to grab the lead, at 71-70, at the onset of the payoff period.
Then from 73-75, Quinahan, Tiu, Cruz, Norwood and Belga joined forces in an assault that completely turned the game around for the E-Painters.
“Paul’s gonna be out about four weeks. We want to make it sooner but we don’t want to force the issue. We’ll try to survive without Paul and keep ourselves in contention,” said Guiao.
“It’s also an opportunity for our rookies and for our guards to step in his shoes,” Guiao also said.
Maverick Ahanmisi, the third pick in the recent Rookie Draft, saw action for eight minutes and 44 seconds, struggling for 0-of-2 from the field and 3-of-4 from the stripe.
Don Trollano got a lot more exposure (17:56) but went 0-of-5 from the field.
“I was expecting a lot more from our rookies. Ang taas kasi ng expectation ko sa kanila. I thought they could have significant contributions,” said Guiao.
The pair of Tiu and Cruz were the ones who ably made up for Lee’s absence in this game, combining for 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
The two teams engaged in a run-and-gun duel with the Hotshots looking impressive in dominating the first half.
James Yap came out firing, gunning down 13 points as the Hotshots took the half at 47-40.
Buckling down to work early, the Hotshots established a first double-digit spread at 21-11 nine minutes into the contest.
Rafi Reavis scored the first point of the season from the line then Gabe Norwood nailed a jumper for the E-Painters’ first basket.
The Hotshots seized control at 17-10 and kept a safe margin through the first half. (SB)
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