CHICAGO - When Rain or Shine assembles to watch the film of their Game One semifinals debacle against TNT, one thing will attract the most attention.
Rebounding.
In their 98-91 loss to the Tropang 5G at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Elasto Painters were crushed on the boards, 59-44, including a 16-12 disadvantage on the offensive end which led to a 15-8 TNT edge on second-chance points.
READ Another frustrating night vs TNT ends prematurely for ejected Guiao
Speed, which Rain or Shine employed to offset its height limitations, often kills. But on this night, TNT's size imposed itself, leaving the Elasto Painters susceptible to a myriad of vulnerabilities to include a weakened perimeter defense.
The rebounding dominance of TNT stifled RoS' running game, holding coach Yeng Guiao's chargers to just seven fastbreak points.
OUTPLAYED.
While Beau Belga was sorely missed, RoS still brought a chunk of size in 6-foot-4 Leonard Santillan and 6-foot-8 Keith Datu who combined for nine points and nine rebounds.
Unfortunately, their total output was markedly overshadowed by their TNT counterparts in 6-foot-6 Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and 6-foot-8 Poy Erram.
Rosser and Erram pooled together 29 points and 20 rebounds on a combined 13-of-22 shooting. They were more nimble, more spirited. and ultimately, the more lethal weapons that RoS had little, if any at all, answers to.
It didn't help that Roger Pogoy got a plethora of good looks and took advantage by drilling 11-of-25 shots for 28 points.
"Nakatulong yung presence nila BGR at Poy sa ilalim," Pogoy told me via text message about the open shot-opportunities and the confidence that a miss had a good chance of being recovered by Rosser and Erram
Although boardwork was crucial, TNT's No. 1-ranked defense was the murder weapon that allowed the grand slam-seeking MVP Group flagship franchise to inch three games closer to a third consecutive PBA Finals appearance.
TNT D SLOWS DOWN ROS.
After averaging 33 percent from 3 during the elimination round, the Tropang 5G held the Elasto Painters to just 22.9 percent (11-of-35) in Game One. They also held RoS to just 91 points, which is 13 below their average.
TNT's D also held RoS to just 13 assists, nine below their standard.
Andrei Caracut, Jhonard Clarito and Adrian Nocum got their points - a combined 43 - but the run-and-gun trio never got their groove as TNT's resistance forced them into a poor shooting night of 14-for-32 overall and 4-of-15 from 3.
Having faced each other many times before, familiarity is not just breeding competitive contempt, this rivalry is also giving Rain or Shine familiar problems to solve.
Guiao is one of the best to ever do it in the PBA, I'm sure he'll come up with something that will mitigate TNT's Game One supremacy heading into Game Two.
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