CHOT Reyes and Yeng Guiao have been coaching against each other for over three decades since 1993, through Reyes' PBA stops with Purefoods, Coca-Cola, Sta. Lucia, and TNT and Guiao's journey from Swift to Pepsi to Red Bull to Burger King/ FedEx to Rain or Shine to NLEX and back to Rain or Shine.
Over that 32-year span, except for a brief interlude when Reyes helped run the MBA and Guiao served as commissioner of the PBL, the two coaches went head-to-head no less than 104 times, with Chot dominating the rivalry, 62-42.
READ Here's the score in Chot-Guiao head-to-head over three decades
But this great rivalry stopped becoming one three years ago, after Guiao ended his six-year stint as NLEX coach to return to Rain or Shine, and Reyes got back to his old job as TNT coach after leaving the Gilas Pilipinas post for good.
Since the 2022-2023 PBA season, Chot and TNT hold a 10-3 edge over Guiao and Rain or Shine - a dominance punctuated by a pair of 4-1 blowouts at the semifinal stage of both the last Governors' Cup and Commissioner's Cup.
So what happened?
Reyes didn't seem interested, responding with a playful, 'Wag na,' when we offered to show him his head-to-head PBA record against Guiao over the years.
So we tossed the question over to Guiao. What changed and tilted the balance of power in TNT and Chot's favor? Have the Tropang 5G become too big and too strong for the Elasto Painters? Or has TNT become their kontrapelo? we asked.
"I'm not sure. I haven't really given it much thought," Guiao responded. After a while, he explained that almost all the teams he handled were built from scratch, meaning it will take a while before these teams start winning.
"I think it's just my coaching niche is really building up teams from ground up, which means you're going to lose first before you can win," he continued. "Some coaches are fortunate to land in teams which already are fully stocked with talent.
"All teams I've coached were built from ground up."
That includes this batch of Elasto Painters, who, aside from Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood, Mark Borboran and new recruit Kris Porter, have 12 players picked by Guiao and former head coach and now deputy Caloy Garcia over the past four years.
They are Santi Santillan, Anton Asistio and Andrei Caracut in 2021, Gian Mamuyac, Jhonard Clarito, and Shaun Ildefonso in 2022, Keith Datu and Adrian Gozum in 2023 and Caelan Tiongson, Felix Lemetti, Mike Malonzo, and Francis Escandor in 2024.
So is this batch, after two semifinal beatings from TNT, ready to get over the hump against the Tropang 5G, Guiao was asked.
"Yes, [but] I'm not just talking about Chot or TNT alone, but being competitive against any team in general," Guiao said. "We dont prepare for one team alone, we set our standards to the highest objective of winning a championship. For now its TNT, maybe if we get better in the future, it could be another team."
Guiao said the end goal is not just to be competitive, but to win the Rain or Shine's first championship since ruling the 2016 Commissioner's Cup - until now the last title romp by a team outside the SMC and MVP blocs.
"That's the ultimate goal," Guiao said.
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