By REYNALD MAGALLON
Like a super typhoon, Rain or Shine buried 17 triples and went on to dump crowd-favorite Ginebra, 93-71, in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
Everything just went to the Elasto Painters favor on a rainy night, coming through with a deciding second quarter breakaway that saw them score a massive 30 points while limiting the Gin Kings, who ironically just reloaded with the addition of Jamie Malonzo and Von Pessumal, to a measly five points.
The never-say-die spirit that the talented Ginebra squad is known was nowhere to be found this time as it was all Rain or Shine from that point, easily cruising to its first win under the head coach Yeng Guiao this conference.
At the forefront of the onslaught was Rain or Shine import Steve Taylor Jr. who posted 21 points – 16 of which came in the first 12 minutes of the contest – along with 10 rebounds and five assists while Santi Santillan added 15 points.
It was actually a total team effort as three other players scored with at least eight points. Norbert Torres scored all of his eight points to spearhead that second quarter pull away joining hands with Anton Asistio and Andrei Caracut who finished with nine points apiece while Rey Nambatac orchestrated the attack with nine assists.
While Rain or Shine caught a big fish with Ginebra, Guiao felt they were just lucky to play the star-studded team in one of its ‘rare’ bad nights
“It feels good actually. Magandang bawi namin from talo namin sa NLEX. Malaking isda itong nahuli namin pero mahirap mahuli yung Ginebra sa ganitong situation. One of their rare bad nights. We played well but maybe because they also played bad,” said Guiao.
“Ginebra is an all-star team especially with the addition of Jamie Malonzo and he played well tonight. They’re gonna be scary in the future,” he added.
Brownlee paced the Kings with 20 points but had to take 25 shots to reach his output including a 1-of-11 clip in the first half which typified Ginebra’s offensive struggles with a conference-low first half points at only 28.
The blazing first half from the Elasto Painters obviously caught the Kings flat-footed as the lead ballooned to as many as 32 points early in the final frame – thanks to a impressive shooting.
ROS made 33 of 79 (41.8 percent) tries from the field, including 17 of 43 from the 3-point zone against Ginebra’s 33.7 percent shooting, making only 28 of 83 tries from the field. And worst, the Gin Kings made only 6 of 33 attempts from the trifectaville.
Malonzo had a decent debut in his Ginebra uniform with 14 points but still weren’t enough as the Kings absorbed its worst loss since the Governor’s Cup of the last season and tied for the least points the team scored in the nine conferences with Brownlee on board.
FIERY START
Meantime, Nicholas Rakocevic announced his arrival to the PBA in a sensational fashion, exploding for 45 points apart from grabbing 25 rebounds in Magnolia’s 100-92 win over a gritty Terrafirma side in the first game.
Rakocevic seemed to be a tailor fit for the Hotshots as he scored in a variety of ways from the perimeter, from the post, off the rebound and ball screens, complementing the games of the guard oriented lineup of Magnolia to open the mid-season conference on a high note.
The Serbian-American import even conspired with Paul Lee and Mark Barocca to anchor a deciding 9-0 run inside the final two minutes of the contest and slam the door of the upset hopes of the Dyip who managed to keep in step with Magnolia behind the efforts of Lester Prosper and Juami Tiongson.
The scores:
First Game
MAGNOLIA 100 – Rakocevic 45, Jalalon 12, Sangalang 10, Lee 9, Corpuz 9, Barroca 8, Wong 2, Dionisio 2, Dela Rosa 1, Ahanmisi 0, Mendoza 0.
TERRAFIRMA 92 – Prosper 41, Tiongson 19, Munzon 8, Cabagnot 6, Cahilig 4, Gomez de Liano 4, Ramos 4, Camson 3, Gabayni 3, Alolino 0, Calvo 0, Mina 0, Balagasay 0.
Quarters: 29-26, 59-54, 80-71, 100-92.
Second Game
RAIN OR SHINE 93 – Taylor Jr. 21, Santillan 15, Nieto 10, Asistio 9, Caracut 9, Torres 8, Belga 5, Nambatac 5, Ponferrada 4, Ildefonso 3, Norwood 2, Borboran 2, Ponferrada 1, Guinto 0, Clarito 0.
GINEBRA 71 – Brownlee 20, Malonzo 14, Pinto 9, Standhardinger 9, J.Aguilar 8, Pringle 8, Tenorio 2, Thompson 1, Dillinger 0, Pessumal 0, Mariano 0.
Quarters: 25-23, 55-28, 72-49, 93-71.
