Rain or Shine brandished the poise and energy unlike that of a first time finalist, punishing B-Meg with a stingy defense in the second half as the Elasto Painters drew first blood in their best-of-seven championship playoff, 91-80, in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Jamelle Cornley totally outclassed his B-Meg counterpart Marcus Blakely and finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds to power the Elasto Painters to a sparkling debut in a PBA Finals series.
“I am really proud of how the boys handled the pressure of the Finals. The way we played our defense in the second half, that was when we were able to settle down and soak out the atmosphere. They were okay from then on,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, a multi-titled mentor who may as well be the only member of the team who has had a championship experience in the PBA.
Standing out among the locals was rookie Paul Lee who finished with 14 points and Gabe Norwood who added 10, including back-to-back triples that all but quashed any bid by the Llamados to launch a late-game rally.
After trailing at 35-39 at the half, Cornley sizzled with 12 points in a 17-6 assault — including back-to-back three-point plays — that gave the Elasto Painters the initiative at 52-41, halfway through the third quarter.
“I want to give credit to our import who just stayed there. He was able to get us out of trouble when we needed him most,” Guiao said of Cornley.
James Yap almost singlehandedly brought the Llamados back into the thick of the battle, scoring on nine points in the next four minutes that put them to within five at 59-68.
At the height of that exchange, Blakely committed consecutive personal fouls and had to be lifted by B-Meg coach Tim Cone when he was charged his penultimate foul with still 3:45 left in the third quarter.
Blakely was sent back into the game with 10:57 left but he had all but lost his momentum as the Elasto Painters even opened up the last period with Beau Belga’s back-to-back incursions, a Norwood slam dunk and Cornley’s layup for a 74-64 cushion, time down to 7:38.
In the Llamados’ ensuing play, Yap went for a drive but lost the ball, gesturing to the officials that he had been shoved from behind. But the referees allowed the game to be played on, prompting a furious Cone to throw a monobloc chair on to the hardcourt.
Cone was promptly thrown out of the game, with still 7:23 remaining, and with him apparently went the Llamados’ fire to mount any serious comeback.
Jeff Chan knocked in a side jumper while Gabe Norwood strung up two triples against a lone free throw by Yancy de Ocampo and the Elasto Painters all but put the outcome of the game beyond recall at 83-65, going into the last five minutes of the game.
“I know coach Tim. He was just trying to spark his team, trying to create something they can rally on. That’s just part of psychological ploys available to coaches,” Guiao opined.
Guiao noted that the extra two days they had in resting and preparing for the Finals did them well.
“We had a fresher entry going into this Finals series,” he said. The Elasto Painters gained entry into the Finals after turning back B-Meg Wednesday while the Llamados had to go through the wringer of a close 74-72 knockout game against Barangay Ginebra just last Friday.
Perhaps most affected by that tiring and demanding path to the Finals was Blakely who could do no better than 12 points and five rebounds.
Yap had his usual scoring ways and finish with 19 points while Marc Pingris added 12.