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INDEFATIGABLE TEXTERS GO FOR 3-0
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TALK ‘N Text coach Norman Black, the Philippine Basketball Association’s version of Mr. Cool in the press room, bared a fang and let slip a barely audible growl during the post-game interview after Game 2 Friday night.
Black probably couldn’t help it. After all, anybody who takes a 2-0 lead over Yeng Guiao and Rain or Shine in the Finals has to feel a little good about himself.
“They’ll keep coming at us and hope to run as down in the end,” Black said after the 89-81 victory that put them within two wins of a third straight Philippine Cup title. “Question is, will we run out of gas? I don’t think so.”
If that’s not a gauntlet getting thrown the way of Guiao, the Elasto Painters coach, then what else could that be?
Of course, Black was quick to tone it down.
Asked about the possibility of sweeping Rain or Shine, Black looked aghast and said: “I’m not going into that. Rain or Shine is a very good team and they’ve got Yeng Guiao.”
Only Black knows what he meant by that. But that’s masterful disarming strategy for you, something only 10 PBA championships, including a Grand Slam in 1989, could bring.
Even for Black, however, a commanding third win Sunday in the best-of-7 series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum could force his hand regarding the four-zero scenario.
But that won’t be until after Game 3 where the Elasto Painters are expected to come out snarling in a bid to stay the coming of midnight.
“We have to win on Sunday or it could be light’s out for us,” said Guiao.
Nothing could be more apparent.
No team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit and Guiao, more than anybody else, knows the futility of entertaining thoughts that Rain or Shine has the capacity to rise from the ruins and beat Talk ‘N Text four games in a row.
So, tonight’s the night for them. Even now, however, the odds are stacked against the E-Painters.
Of 39 teams that won the first two games of a best-of-7, 33 went on to win the championship, 27 of 32 in the finals.
Number 27 was Talk ‘N Text, which came back from 0-2 to beat Powerade in the Philippine Cup Finals last season. And it was also the Texters who dealt the Alaska Aces a heartbreaker in the same conference in 2008, dragging the series to a Game 7 before claiming the winner-take-all.
Guiao won’t hear any of that for now.
“We have to recommit our resolve, we have to get back to our old selves,” said the six-time champion coach. “We have to sacrifice for each other, just like we did in the past. We can’t reach this far if not for these sacrifices.”
He continued: “We have to recover our confidence. Nawala ‘yung angas ng team e, which is something that I don’t induce from the players but is something that is natural in them, that it’s their character. I’m confident we can rediscover that, plus our shooting in the perimeter.”
That said, now the E-Painters have to find out what they need to do to stop Ranidel de Ocampo, Jayson Castro, Larry Fonacier, Jared Dillinger, Ali Peek, and a sleeping force named Jimmy Alapag.
De Ocampo, who scored the first eight points for TNT in Game 2, has bveen averaging 20.0 points in the series while Castro is at 18.5.
Alapag just had three points last Friday. But he had four assists that helped him pass the legendary Bernard Fabiosa at 10th place in the PBA’s All-time Assists list.
And he’s bound for huge shooting night before the series is over.
Fire for fire, the E-Painters could find themselves drying up fast in a shootout with the Texters. Their only chance could be to draw TNT into a slam-bang, knockdown affair where they could force the Texters out of their fluid offensive set and get them to win from the inside and the free throw line.
How that could be done? Rain or Shine is a team that knows without being told. If they’re not, then it’s into that deep, dark hole they go. (WJRHT)
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