TOO bad Rain or Shine fell short against an also-ran NLEX side in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup encounter at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on a rainy Friday night.
Had they managed to pull off a come-from-behind win that would be more than enough to ease the pain of the Elasto Painters’ heartbreaker of a loss to NorthPort a week ago.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
The Road Warriors lost a 17-point lead to start the final quarter, but hung tough in the end to eke out a thrilling 100-97 victory, only their second in nine games.
“Kung nanalo sana kami today bawi n asana yung talo namin sa NorthPort,” said coach Caloy Garcia. “It’s kind of frustrating.”
Rain or Shine has now lost two of its last three outings to fall behind the .500 mark at 3-4 for a tie at seventh to eighth places with Phoenix.
It botched a 25-point lead against an eight-man NorthPort squad to lose in overtime, 107-105, last week, and then barely escaped past Columbian Dyip behind an 89-87 overtime win in Batangas.
The Elasto Painters’ last four games are all going to be crucial as they face top teams such as TnT Katropa, Alaska, Magnolia, and San Miguel.
While Garcia said everything is not yet over, the Elasto Painters should start hitting their outside shots if they are to stay in contention for a quarterfinals berth.
As it is, only import Denzel Bowles had been playing consistently for the team, according to Garcia.
“We’re having open shots, but we can’t connect. If we can make those connections from the threes, we will be OK,” he said.
“It’s not yet the end of the road. We know we’re going to play the top four teams in the next four games. But we just have to be positive about things. We know that we can compete. It’s just about closing out games.”