By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao is finding comfort in seeing the constant improvement from his team despite falling into a deep 0-3 hole in their semifinals series against the defending champion San Miguel Beer.
Guiao shared that he remained pleased with how his team has responded, noting that his young squad is getting better over the course of the three games.
“We’re in a deeper hole. But we are in a long game. We want games like these, we want to be able to play the best teams and find ways in solving strengths ng ibang teams and try to improve on our weaknesses,” said Guiao
“On that end, we are achieving it. Tingin ko we’re getting to be a better team every game,” he added.
The fiery mentor even felt that they had their best chance at toppling SMB in Game 3 when it held June Mar Fajardo to just 11 points while firing away 18 triples in the 117-107 loss.
It was the first time the Elasto Painters went over 100 points in scoring in the series although it was the likes of CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter and Don Trollano who did most of the damage for the Beermen.
“Nasasayangan lang kami rito with this opportunity. This could have been our best chance to win against San Miguel. We could’ve been back in the race. It was a crucial game,” said Guiao who got 19 points from Beau Belga after firing six triples.
“You go down 0-3, it’s almost impossible to get back. But if we had Game 1 and 2, medyo maganda pa odds nun,” he added.
While the piling losses are disappointing, it was not lost on Guiao that they are the underdogs in the series and they are there to learn and develop further as a team.
“Of course, natatalo. Pero pagpasok namin dito sinasabi ko naman all we can do really is to make it hard for San Miguel to get to the Finals and learn in the process,” said Guiao.
“The experience is also very important. Ma-experience nila ‘yung ganito, ma-experience nila ‘yung atmosphere ng semis, ‘yung maraming nanonood. Nung eliminations halos kaunti lang nanonood. There’s more pressure, there’s more adjustments. Nandoon naman lahat ‘yun,” he added.
