RAIN or Shine coach Yeng Guiao rued the team’s shooting woes in their PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup quarterfinals game against Meralco on Saturday.
The second-seed Elasto Painters fired blanks throughout the ballgame where they only shot 4-of-33 from threes. Overall, Rain or Shine went 26-of-77 from the field.
Fortunately for them, the loss didn’t end their conference as Rain or Shine has a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals after ending up with an 8-3 record in the eliminations.
READ: Meralco pummels Rain or Shine to force KO match in quarters clash
Guiao said Meralco’s big lead that reached as high as 34 was just too much to overcome even though they were able to finally get their offense going in the second half.
“We had to make use of our twice-to-beat advantage,” said Guiao. “We just gave up too big of a lead in the first quarter.”
Rain or Shine was down, 35-15, at the end of the first quarter where it only made four of its 16 shots, including six misses from three-point range.
“It took a little while before we were able to get the rhythm of the game,” Guiao said.
Their desired tempo showed in the third quarter where Rain or Shine outscored Meralco, 29-20, but the Elasto Painters saw Chris Newsome and Jansen Rios hit big shots in the final minutes of the game.
Guiao said their play in the second half is something that Rain or Shine can lean on heading into the knockout game on Monday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
He is also confident that Rain or Shine can eventually hit their shots in the do-or-die duel.
“Second half na, malaki na masyado ‘yung lamang but what was important was we did not give up. We wanted to make the most out of the situation. We used a lot of the minutes in the second half especially just to be able to learn what adjustments we need to make on the Monday game," he said.
“I feel pretty good that we can figure it out and fix our problems in the first game. I think we just need to lean back on our accomplishments. Parang may reason naman bakit kami nagka-twice to beat. You’re gonna have bad shooting nights. You have to give credit to the way they played their defense," he continued.
“We made some good looks. Even our three-point shooting was way, way, way below our average. So tingin ko, getting used to the physicality to what the refs will call and what the refs will not call, that’s the lesson and that’s the value of getting a twice-to-beat advantage. Now, we have to stretch that advantage and make it work for us on Monday."
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