Unfamiliar terrain
It took several things to fall his way before Yeng Guiao could get to this point.
“This is the closest we’ve gotten to the Finals,” Guiao said on Friday, after his Rain or Shine crew routed TNT, 113-97, in Game 5 of their half of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
“At last, we won two games in the semifinals.”
In the last four semifinals that Rain or Shine saw action in, Guiao’s charges lost twice in five games to TNT and in four games to San Miguel Beer.
Now, they are within a game of tying the series against a TNT squad that played Game 5 without coach Chot Reyes, who was suspended one game due to an accumulation of technical fouls, and standouts RR Pogoy, Rey Nambatac and Kelly Williams, who were all on the injured list.
“That’s how it is. When you get to this stage, it becomes a game of attrition,” Guiao said, adding that Rain or Shine plotted its Philippine Cup path precisely with that in mind.
“Matira matibay (only the strong survives),” he added. “So if you have a longer rotation, it’s an advantage. If you have a deeper bench, it’s an advantage.
“We prepare for these situations, that’s why we try to give everybody a chance to play. Even if we play at a high speed, we are able to sustain it because we have a longer rotation than they do.”
And everyone on the Rain or Shine roster takes advantage of that chance.
On Friday, it was Gian Mamuyac. He scored 16 points in the first quarter and finished with 22 for the night that went with three steals.
“[I]n our system, anyone can have a night like this,” Mamuyac said. “That’s the beauty of our team. Any given night, you don’t know who’s going to sit beside coach Yeng here (in the winning coach’s interview).
“It just happened that tonight, it’s me.”
And when Rain or Shine pulled away in the third quarter, turning a fragile four-point halftime lead into a 93-64 advantage entering the fourth, the Painters got contributions from nine players, including Keith Datu (seven points), Andrei Caracut (seven), Jhonard Clarito (six) and Michael Malonzo (four).
So dominant were the Painters that in the fourth, when TNT scored 10 straight points and 16 in an 18-point stretch, all the Tropang Giga managed to do was trim the lead to 101-81.
“We survived another day, so we earned a game on Sunday,” Guiao said. “A win is a win. A chance to get to the finals is a chance to get to the finals. I know we’re hungrier than they are [even] if they have the chance to win the Grand Slam.”
And, crucially, deeper too.
For how long, remains the question.
“I think they’re just buying time for Pogoy and we expect him to play in the next game,” Guiao said.
“The longer we can drag this series, the better for us. We don’t want to waste this opportunity, and even if it’s difficult, we’ll take what we have.”
