GO for the jugular.
That’s what Rain or Shine aims to do when it shoots for an appearance in the finals of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup for the second straight year.
Holding a commanding 2-0 lead and on the cusp of punching a ticket to the finals, the Elasto Painters go for the best-of-five semifinals series sweep against rival San Miguel Beer today at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Even without head coach Yeng Guiao, who attended a political gathering in Pampanga, the Elasto Painters were still able to grind out a hard-fought victory under top assistant coach Caloy Garcia’s watch in Game 2 Tuesday night to take a tight grip on the series against the powerhouse Beermen.
Rain or Shine squeaked out a 98-96 thriller in Game 2 after Marcio Lassiter’s made triple was waved off as it didn’t beat the clock, allowing the Painters to escape.
“We can’t be complacent at this point,” said Garcia. “We need to focus again on this game and play hard. We can still play better.”
San Miguel is once again facing a familiar territory and it needs to once again have a miraculous run to get back in the series and earn another trip to the finals.
In the last Philippine Cup Finals, the Beermen had a celebrated 4-3 series victory over Alaska wherein they made history of coming back from a 0-3 hole. They need to do the exact same thing again against the Elasto Painters.
However, the San Miguel is in the middle of a chaotic situation off-court as its import Tyler Wilkerson threw a tantrum in the dugout after that Game 2 loss and reportedly wants out. At this point, this Wilkerson situation is still unresolved for San Miguel, leaving him as a game-time decision for the Beermen’s elimination game.
Guiao will now be back at Rain or Shine’s bench and will call the shots this time around.