Painters go all-Filipino as they dispute lead with Bolts
Rain or Shine and Meralco dispute the early PBA Commissioner’s Cup lead when they clash on Friday, with the Elasto Painters coming into their matchup at a very disadvantageous position as they play without suspended import Jaylen Johnson at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The 6-foot-10 banger was canned by the Commissioner’s Office for fighting with TNT’s Glenn Khobuntin in a 112-109 victory over the defending champion Tropang 5G a week ago, a decision that Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao blasted as soon as it came out.
“Jaylen was punched first and reacted in self defense, which is a totally rational reaction,” Guiao had said as the team’s appeal for a reversal of the suspension was denied on Monday. “It was the officials’ incompetence and Khobuntin’s loss of temper that precipitated the incident.
“Jaylen was acting as a normal human being would—protect himself,” said Guiao.
Rain or Shine and Meralco are at 2-0, and it also didn’t escape the outspoken Guiao that their opponent in the 5:15 p.m. contest, the Bolts, are the sister team of the Tropang 5G.
“It’s bad optics,” Guiao had told SPIN.ph. “It is totally unfair to us because we were unjustly disadvantaged by the commissioner’s decision.”
Gang effort
Johnson finished with 33 points and nine rebounds against Bol Bol and the Tropang 5G, and Guiao would have to get those numbers from someone else, or a gang effort, for them to survive the Bolts.
The Painters survived TNT even with Johnson being ejected with a little over six minutes left. If they were able to pull that off against such a dominant import in Bol, then the Painters, even as an all-Filipino crew, certainly have a chance against anyone else.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra tries to win a second straight game later when the Gin Kings slug it out with NLEX in the 7:30 p.m. game.
The Kings will be coming in fresh from dealing guest team Macau a third straight defeat, as Ginebra, which is being reinforced by the shortest import in the field in Justin Brownlee, got five players in twin digits in a 110-93 win.
Brownlee led the way as usual, shooting 31 points, even as RJ Abarrientos backed him up with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds in another effort that continues to harp his coming as the next big thing at the point in the league.
The Road Warriors, meanwhile, will be coming off their first defeat in three games, which was dealt by the Tropang 5G, 103-97, last Sunday.
