EVEN with the Game One loss in the PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said there are still reasons to be optimistic about their chances of overcoming TNT at the end of the day in their semifinal affair.
Speaking to reporters after the Elasto Painters' 90-81 loss in the opener against the Tropang Giga on Wednesday, Guiao felt his team had a chance in Game One, but shot themselves in the foot with the 22 turnovers they committed.
READ: TNT wears down error-prone Rain or Shine in Game One
“Pero maganda pa rin pakiramdam ko,” Guiao said. “Tingin ko, habang humahaba ang series, a longer series could be more advantageous to us. We will try to keep winning because every win extends the series to another game.
Guiao said Rain or Shine was still relatively in the game in the final moments but Rondae Hollis-Jefferson buried a four-point shot to beat the shotclock to pad the TNT lead to 90-79 with 1:47 left in the contest.
“We got a little frustrated. We couldn’t get calls going our way. But I think the biggest factor ‘yung masyado kaming maraming turnovers,” said Guiao. “We had 22 turnovers, 22 assists, one is to one ‘yung ratio namin sa assists to turnover. It’s just too big to give up to a team like TNT.”
“If you are turning the ball over that many that many times, that means you are giving up too many easy points, mga cheap baskets."
Guiao also rued Aaron Fuller having to be pulled out late in the third quarter after incurring his fourth foul.
“’Yung portion na wala si Aaron, medyo nag-struggle din kami,” said Guiao.
Other than the turnovers and Fuller in foul trouble, Guiao said Rain or Shine was in the good position to win the game by limiting TNT to just 34 percent in Game One.
“But I still feel good about the series. Actually, maganda ‘yung depensa namin. Low percentage, low efficiency, they only shot 34 percent from the field goal percentage. That’s really good defense. The problem was we were turning the ball over so many times. ‘Yung na-gain namin sa depensa, nababawi nila sa mga turnovers namin,” said Guiao.
The two-time PBA championship also didn’t think that fatigue was a factor after taking a three-day break from their five-game series against Magnolia in the quarterfinals.
“Hindi naman pagod ang mga bata sa tingin ko. Sakto lang ‘yung three days in between games. Isang araw kaming nag-break, dalawang araw kami nag-eensayo. ‘Yung ensayo naman, hindi ‘yung masusunog sila. Kailangan mo pa rin i-manage ‘yung load sa ensayo,” Guiao said.
Rain or Shine has a day to regroup when when it battles TNT in Game Two on Friday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
“Bukas, makikita namin ‘yung film viewing. ‘Yung mga mali namin, may isang araw kami na mag-correct. Tingin ko naman, hindi naman marami ‘yung correction. Just minimizing turnovers in general,” said Guiao.
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