Force sudden death for crown: E-Painters halt Mixers

MANILA, Philippines - Rain or Shine imposed its will and fashioned out yet another huge bounce-back victory, blasting San Mig Super Coffee, 88-79, last night to force a sudden death in their best-of-five PBA Governors Cup title showdown before a roaring crowd of over 18,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“There’s really just a simple formula for winning today (last night), we played a lot harder than Game Three,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. “As long as we’re playing with energy and intensity, we have a chance at winning the game.”

“But we just postponed their party. We hope to have a chance to cancel it Wednesday,” added Guiao, referring to the Mixers’ shot at a rare grand slam.

Thus, the PBA Governors Cup finale comes down to one final game tomorrow with either San Mig Coffee nailing down the rare feat or Rain or Shine slamming its rival’s grand slam ambition.

Guiao expects no less than a total war in the do-or-die game.

“Sa Tagalog, matira matibay ito. Talagang patibayan because of the schedule and the kind of play we’re playing. It’s really physical out there, and you have to take all of that,” said Guiao.

The Elasto Painters indeed set out in their fiercest form, overwhelming the Mixers with a big onslaught in the second quarter and surviving a third do-or-die game dating back to their semis showdown with the Alaska Milk Aces.

“This team did a good job in handling pressure in the past but Rain or Shine is also used to playing this kind of game. It’s a 50-50 game Wednesday,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

Cone rued his team for trying to win the game offensively and not defensively. “It’s obvious as we gave away 53 points in the first half,” he said.

The Elasto Painters actually delivered the telling blows in just one quarter – a vicious attack in the second period that gave them a 20-point spread at 53-33 from a 21-all count.

The Mixers exerted tremendous effort to get back into the fight but couldn’t come closer than six as the Elasto Painters played tough all night long and came through with clutch baskets to frustrate their rivals.

Arizona Reid came through with game-highs of 22 points and 17 rebounds while Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga and Ryan Arana churned out double-digit outputs to underscore the Elasto Painters balanced offensive sock.

In Game Three, only Reid scored more than eight points as the Elasto Painters yielded the 2-1 series lead to the Mixers.

But the E-Painters are far from being finished.

They exploded for 6-of-10 treys and also struck hard on the breaks in the second period as they stormed ahead, 53-33, before settling for a 53-38 spread at the turn.

Reid, Norwood and Jonathan Uyloan starred in their second-quarter blitz with the troika combining for a remarkable 6-of-7 three-pointers.

The count was tied at 21 when Uyloan checked in at the start of second period and nailed back-to-back triples right away before adding a layup for a 3-of-3 clip in a six-minute relief job in that stretch.

Norwood, meanwhile, came up with nine straight points on back-to-back three-point plays and a triple in a 31-11 tear that silenced the San Mig crowd for some time.