By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao is not getting too carried away by his team’s perfect 4-0 start, saying that the early success remains fragile and it’s still too soon to speak about their title chances.
ROS has painted a picture-perfect start to its campaign so far, even tying the franchise’s best start following their 116-99 drubbing of the Phoenix on Friday, Aug. 30 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The last time the Elasto Painters raced to an early 4-0 start was in the 2012 Governors’ Cup where they eventually reigned supreme – their first title in the PBA – with the help of import Jamelle Cornley along with current players Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and former player-now assistant team manager Jireh Ibanes.
While it certainly an encouraging sign for Guiao, he is refusing to read too much into the splendid start as a lot can still happen during the course of the conference.
“I keep reminding the guys that yes we are winning, we are 3-0 before this game, 4-0 after this game pero lahat ito fragile. You lose two games in a row. You lose to a team without an import then all of that is just going to dissolve and you are just a regular team again,” said Guiao as he warned his charges of the complacency brought by being on winning run.
“Lahat ito temporary. We’re hoping we can stretch our win as much as we can. Ang hinahabol talaga namin anim na panalo safe ka na youre into the next round. We’re doing fine. We’re doing well,” he added
As much as the strong start, with import Aaron Fuller looking like a tailored fit to the team and multiple players stepping up each game, Guiao dismissed any talks of Rain or Shine being a title contender at this point.
The veteran mentor pointed out that the true measure of it is in the playoffs when the powerhouse teams are usually at their peak forms.
“Kailangan kasi alam mong matatag ka sa playoffs. Alam mo kung magaling ka na talaga o contender ka na kapag nasa playoffs ka na at siguro nakakapagbigay ka ng magandang laban sa playoffs,” said Guiao.
“Pero sa eliminations, ‘yung ibang teams dito, painit pa lang, late naghanda ng preseason, makikita mo talaga ang galing nila towards the middle of the eliminations and towards the end of the eliminations,” he furthered.
Rain or Shine, the lone undefeated team in the conference, is on the verge of first round sweep when it takes on San Miguel but it is still facing the same teams again in the second round to end the eliminations.
“Maganda lang na nakikita na nananalo ka pero mahirap sabihin na title contender na kami. Fragile ito. Matalo ka lang ng dalawang beses, ma-demoralize ka, ma-injure lang ‘yung isang player mo, nag-iislide ka na naman. Kailangan talagang pangalagaan,” he stressed.
