By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine may have been on a hot streak but its five-game winning run was far from being perfect.
As great as they were playing, the Elasto Painters still had to deal with rough patches in games – they even had one in the second quarter of their 122-106 win over the Blackwater Bossing.
ROS only had 17 points in that frame and allowed Blackwater to go on a huge run to cut a once 23-point lead to just single digits at the break.
But head coach Yeng Guiao sees no problem with it as long as the Elasto Painters respond. Such adversities are normal according to Guiao, but what’s important for him is how his ward would react when thrown into such pressure and challenge.
“Di naman kasi nawawala yung rough patches ang importante sa akin you are not going to collapse or going to slide all the way to a loss. Pwedeng magka rough patches pero nakakabawi ka nakakabalik ka kasi ganun naman talaga ang basketball,” said Guiao.
While ROS has shown capabilities of creating big leads even against powerhouse teams, the Elasto Painters have displayed poise and maturity when their opponents were trying to rally back into the game.
His young guns in the likes of Santi Santillan, Adrian Nocum, and Andrei Caracut have all stepped up to the plate and delivered big time to regain their footing and eventually take the fight off the Bossing.
“Very rare siguro na maglalaro ka perfectly all the way through lumalamang ka at palaki ng palaki ng lamang very rare yon.” said Guiao
“Dadaan ka talaga sa mga rough patches sabi natin, how do you react to those adversities, sa akin tingintingnan ko kaya ba bumalik? Meron ba silang toughness to withstand those adversities, nakikita ko na nagkakaroon na ng toughness ang mga bata,” he added.
Now at 5-1, the target for Rain or Shine is to reach the seven-win mark, which Guiao believes would suffice to qualify them to the next round, all while his team continue to develop its maturity and end game poise.
