FROM as early as the pre-season of the Philippine Basketball Association experts have been predicting the star-studded teams: San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra and Talk N Text Tropang Texters to dominate this Philippine Cup.
Why not when these teams boast of the league’s biggest stars in June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos for SMB; Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar for Ginebra as well as fancied rookies Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario for TNT.
But while the surprise leader this conference are the Alaska Aces another unheralded team in the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters have stolen the thunder from the fancied squads.
Rain Or Shine relied on its deadly outside shooters to beat the surprisingly resilient Barako Bull Energy, 110-104, as they try to advance to the playoffs of the 2015-2016 PBA Philippine Cup.
With a 5-1 win-loss card, the Elasto Painters are mathematically assured of at least a tie for a quarterfinal berth which we could safely cede to them considering that it’s unlikely they’ll lose all the remaining five games in their schedule.
The Elasto Painters are after bigger game, though, as they chase a Top Two finish for an outright place in the Final Four semifinals.
“We’re trying to keep our momentum going to give ourselves a chance at the Top Two. We want to keep that alive,” said head coach Yeng Guiao.
Rain Or Shine bruisers Jewel Ponferrada and Beau Belga—labelled by most experts as too short and too fat to be an effective PBA big man—led the way early before shooters Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Maverick Ahanmisi and Jericho Cruz took over late in the game.
The Elasto Painters led by as much as 18 points at 96-78 before allowing the Energy to cut the gap to a respectable margin at the finish.
Cruz led his team with 19 points. Ponferrada—who was never given any playing time by his previous teams in the league— played a career game with a career-high 18 points on top of team-high 13 rebounds. Chan had 18 points. Gabe Norwood added 13, with three triples, while Ahanmisi chipped in 11 markers.
“It’s a game where we were able to give guys confidence, just like Jewel, who’s played well, and our rookies,” said Guiao whose biggest strength as a coach is his ability to draw out the best from unheralded players.
Cruz, a sophomore out of Adamson University who many thought would not even land a spot in a PBA team, tallied a career-high 23 points on top of three assists and two rebounds to lead the Elasto Painters to a 103-81 rout of Blackwater.
Guiao recognized Cruz’s potential when he became the surprise first round pick by the Elasto Painters in last year’s PBA Draft.
“He’s blended well and I think he picked up his game. He learned his role very quickly. Mabilis yung transition nya from being a rookie to being a sophomore, on being able to find his proper place with the team. It’s just a question of matching a player’s personality and ability with the kind of system that the team has. He jelled well with the big men,” said Guiao.
Oh, in case you need to be reminded the Elasto Painters actually tagged the San Miguel Beermen their only defeat this conference in a game that was surprisingly lopsided.
The Elasto Painters mauled the defending Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer, 99-84.
Rain Or Shine trailed in the first half but gunners Norwood, Chan, Chris Tiu, Beau Belga and Cruz shredded the net with their outside shooting while Belga, JR Quinahan and Raymond Almazan manhandled San Miguel big man Fajardo with their relentless double-teaming.
“We just put up an effort to help each other out. No team can stop San Miguel defending June Mar (Fajardo) one on one. We were able to disrupt the rhythm of San Miguel. I’m not sure if our effort is going to work the next time. But at least, we’ve got past them in the first round. Tignan natin kung swe-swertehin kami na makaharap namin sila in future rounds,” Guiao said.
It was rookie Ahanmisi, another surprise first round pick by the Elasto Painters, who stood out for Rain Or Shine against the Beermen. He finished with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and one steal.
“A lot of people were doubting Ahanmisi. He showed today he can play in this league,” said Guiao.
With a hard-working core of unappreciated, unheralded players eager to prove themselves these Elasto Painters are surprise contenders for the Philippine Cup title.