By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao got a measure on how good his lineup can be after the team’s rousing 110-97 victory to open their Governor’s Cup campaign.
His assessment? He thinks he now has a team that could hold ground against the league top contenders.
“I think this is a good lineup that we have,” said Guiao after his team flaunted their depth with returning import Aaron Fuller and rookies Caelan Tiongson and Felix Lemetti leading the early show of force.
“It’s certainly an upgrade from our last lineup all-Filipino and sa all-Filipino naka semis kami so kung tama yung calculations nami, upgrade ito. Nakasemis kami ast time and we have a good import, I think we can contend. I think we can give strong teams a run for their money,” he added.
Fuller, who got reunited with Guiao after playing for him at NLEX in the past, showed exactly why he was a perfect fit to the Elasto Painters, providing the inside presence for the team with 21 points and 19 rebounds to his name.
Tiongson had a hot scoring stretch in the second quarter to put up 15 points while Lemetti displayed solid playmaking and touch from the deep to contribute 11 points.
The rest of the Elasto Painters simply did what they do best, giving production when their name is called with five other players chipping in at least eight points led by Leonard Santillan’s 12 and Gian Mamuyac 10.
As solid as their first game for ROS, Guiao shared that his team has yet to reach their full potential with Lemetti and Tiongson still adjusting to the PBA style of play and Luis Villegas slowly getting his groove back from a year-long layoff due to injury.
“It’s just the familiarity,” said Guiao on his team’s areas of improvement.
“Caelan was practically retired the last two years so he was just getting back into his game. Felix Lemetti played in Sweden and played in the States so he’s not really familiar with the local style but we know he can make the adjustment. I think he already did, he showed it today,” he added.
“I feel pretty positive about our chances this conference,” said the fiery mentor
