Rain or Shine paints rosy outlook after first win
Rain or Shine, six games into the new PBA season, finally notched a victory on Saturday night—a win that kept head coach Yeng Guiao hopeful halfway through the Commissioner’s Cup.
“We look at this as a good start, we look at this like a spark,” the tough-talking mentor said on the heels of a 115-110 nipping of an equally desperate Blackwater at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
“We still have a chance—we still have five games left and you never know, we might sweep the next five,” he added, referring to a late push to catch a playoff spot.
Guiao’s vision means the Elastopainters will have to beat NLEX, pacesetting Magnolia, Terrafirma, TNT and then Converge.
He knows that it will take a miracle for that to happen. But with a bevy of young players each showing promise in the narrow losses, and a new import finally giving the club a much-needed inside presence, Guiao chooses to believe such a bid is doable.
“We’ve lost games before this, but the locals have been doing their part. So the difference was really just our import. If [import] Tree (Treadwell) just joined us earlier, we may have a bigger chance at surviving,” he said.
Third-year guard Andrei Caracut, sophomore Johnard Clarito, and rookie Adrian Nocum scored the ElastoPainters’ final 15 points to repel a Bossing side also eager to snap a losing skid.
Caracut finished with 17 points to pace Rain or Shine. Nocum chipped in 14 to tie Santi Santillan and Treadwell, who also added 18 rebounds to his name in the triumph.
Career high“It’s awesome to see the hard work they’re putting in paying off,” said Elastopainters lifer Gabe Norwood, who joined Guiao in believing that the club has enough young talent for a sprint geared towards the playoffs.
“All three of them have played really well. [And] we still got Santi (Santillan) who’s playing consistent minutes for us down the stretch. The young guys are really playing well and tonight, they were able to close it out for us.”
Caracut previously reset his career high with 32 points in the narrow loss to Ginebra, while Nocum also impressed in his debut in the heartbreaker against San Miguel Beer—the same game another young guard in Gian Mamuyac erupted for 33 points.
Then there’s also big man Kieth Datu, another freshman, who had 16 points and five rebounds in his debut against Meralco.
“It just takes, hopefully, this win—that it gets followed up against NLEX and then we’ll see if we can make a late push for the playoffs,” Norwood said.
“You look at our five losses, we’re better than our record. We really believe that. We’re a couple of possessions away each game from where we could’ve been … Our record could totally be mixed around.” INQ
