Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao is hoping his team would snap a four-game losing skid ahead of the long break in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The fiery mentor and his troops absorbed their fourth straight loss after beaten by the more superior, more talented and bigger San Miguel team, 109-97, and will have to return the following day to prepare for an all-important game against Phoenix Super LPG, which the Elasto Painters will be facing on Sunday.
Rain or Shine’s loss could be attributed to many factors — low-shooting percentage both from the three-point region and the free throw area and its decimated front court due to injuries.
“Marami pa ring kulang sa laro namin, hindi lang yung free throw shooting,” Guiao told PinoyStep.com. “We’re not making our three-point shots. It’s very inefficient, low percentage yung three-point shots namin and a lot of them were open treys.”
“Naka-design naman kasi sa sistema namin basta open shot sa tres, kailangan naming itira and if you’re not making them, that kind of pulls you down. I guess we really need to get back to just upgrading our skills sa perimeter game namin.”
In their opening game against TNT, a game the Elasto Painters should have won, Rain or Shine missed 18 free throws of its total 42 attempts for a paltry 57% clip and Guiao and his squad lost a heartbreaker, 107-108.
Against Meralco, the Elasto Painters missed 12 attempts and lost by four, 117-121.
In their game against Barangay Ginebra, the Elasto Painters had more missed free throws than conversions as the team shot a woeful 41% from the foul line (10-of-24).
The absence of Keith Datu, who also missed several games during the Commissioner’s Cup, had also hurt Rain or Shine’s chances, especially when they competed against Ginebra and San Miguel Beer, teams that have dominant big men like seven-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo of the Beermen and Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar of the Gin Kings.
Datu is out indefinitely as he’s being sidelined by a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injury.
“We know we’re small, lalo na nung nawala si Keith,” added Guiao. “We’re having a hard time rebounding, especially kung may malaki katulad ni June Mar. Disadvantage kaagad kami sa offensive rebounding. It’s a problem of size and medyo matatagalan pa bago makabalik si Keith.”
Rain or Shine already has another big guy on the sidelines, rookie Luis Villegas, a 6-foot-7 forward, who was already coming off an Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear when he was drafted in the first round this season by the Elasto Painters.
This left Rain or Shine with only Beau Belga as the lone inside presence and the Elasto Painters were even forced to use athletic wingmen like Santi Santillan, Mark Borboran, Mac Belo and Gabe Norwood to play the power forward position.
But Guiao remains optimistic on the team’s chances.
Last conference, Rain or Shine started the import-laced tournament with an 0-5 win-loss record, but went on to win six in a row to make it to the playoffs.
The seven-time champion coach is hoping the losing would stop the soonest possible time as they try to use the long break — the coming All-Star Weekend and the Holy Week — to recharge and prepare themselves better for the crucial stretch.
“We’ll try to look for solution to that. Hindi instant yung solution dyan, pero sana makaabot pa kami sa playoffs para humabahaba yung season namin,” said Guiao. “Pero nangyari na sa amin ito. We were 0-5 last conference, pero ngayon 0-4 pa lang. Baka sakaling maputol namin instead of five.”
“The long break is probably going to be good for us, maiba naman yung routine, change of scenery. Tingnan natin, baka pagbalik namin baka ibang team na kami.”
