Rain or Shine players and coaches gather during team practice a day after taking a double-digit beating at the hands of the San Mig Coffee Mixers in Game 2 of the Philippine Cup Finals. MARK GIONGCO
MANILA, Philippines — Beau Belga overshot his attempt from pointblank range while Paul Lee uncharacteristically just lost the ball on a drive.
It was that kind of night for Rain or Shine Sunday as San Mig Coffee went on to tie their PBA Philippine Cup championship series at 1-1.
“We struggled all game long with our offense. I think San Mig needs to be given credit for playing really good defense on us,” ROS head coach Yeng Guiao acknowledged after his team’s 70-80 loss in Game 2.
“Aside from the fact that we still couldn’t make our layups, we still couldn’t make our open shots, we still couldn’t even make our free throws so it has really compounded our problems.”
The Elasto Painters actually made the opening basket but that turned out to be the only time they got to be in front as they fell behind early, 4-14, at one point in the first quarter and 24-37 at half after a woeful shooting especially from behind-the-arc where they missed all of their 10 attempts.
“We came out flat, missed some shots,” versatile slotman Gabe Norwood, who had eight points and six rebounds but also needed eight attempts, said after team practice Monday at the Northeast Greenhills Sports Complex in San Juan.
And those misses — and there were a lot with the Painters able to shoot just 37% from the field — were a testament to the Mixers’ defense.
“I don’t think we (Rain or Shine) got a lot of good looks because their defense was really good,” said guard Chris Tiu, who was scoreless in 11 minutes after missing his two attempts from 3-point range on Sunday.
Tiu also offered some simple adjustments they have to make offensively.
“I think we need to be a little bit more patient offensively. Set better screens, move the ball more and just trust your teammate will make the right decisions, find the open man,” he said.
“Today (Sunday) we were really struggling and bleeding for every point. But to them it came easy on post up, offensive rebounds and fastbreak. We have to do a better job.”
San Mig Coffee, who had five players in double-figure scoring led by Pj Simon’s 15 points through three quarters, made beating ROS look easy Sunday night.
“But I’m not really worried. It’s a seven-game series and as I’ve said, the longer this series takes, the better it is for us,” said Guiao. “Winning Game 1 gives us this advantage which I already said before, the adjustment advantage. Now we can make the adjustments and the series is still even.”
What concerns Guiao though is the possibility of his team losing that edge to the Mixers.
“But we cannot afford to give up that advantage. San Mig is just too experienced to let them have the lead in this series or for them to be taking the initiative so Game 3 is really big for us. We need to find the proper adjustments and execute better in Game 3.”
The pivotal Game 3 is on Wednesday, 8 pm, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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