Rain or Shine, Ginebra clash for No. 6 spot

Coach Yeng Guiao reacts after referee’s call. PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines — Rain or Shine, a finalist in the last two PBA conferences, and Barangay Ginebra, a side which its throng of diehards feel has underachieved in the same span, clash Sunday for the critical No. 6 spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is 5:15 p.m. with the Gin Kings unveiling a returning import in the undersized Gabriel Freeman and the Elasto Painters trying to make do with Wayne Chism, whom coach Yeng Guiao describes as impressive in practice.

The Painters have drawn little offensive mileage from Chism, and if Rain or Shine plays to the run-and-gun style of the Kings which Freeman likes, then Guiao and his boys could be in for a lot of trouble Sunday night.

Alaska seeks to clinch No. 3 in the 3 p.m. game against struggling San Mig Coffee and the right to play the No. 6 squad in a best-of-three series.

Losing to the Mixers would give the Aces a best-of-three spot at No. 5 and a date with No. 4 also in a race-to-two affair.

A Rain or Shine win and a San Mig loss would put the Painters at No. 5 for the chance to play No. 4, which would be idle Meralco.

Ginebra, in that scenario, would qualify as No. 8 and will play No. 1 Talk ‘N Text, needing to beat the undefeated Tropang Texters two straight times to advance to the Final Four.

Should they lose, the Gin Kings will actually finish with a 3-6 record, tied with idle Air21 for No. 7.

But since the Express beat the Kings in their only elimination round clash, the winner-over-the-other rule will apply and Air21 will battle No. 2 San Miguel Beer also with the same handicap of winning consecutive games.

Freeman arrived Wednesday and immediately impressed his teammates in practice, dispelling speculations that he was terribly out of shape since he has not played organized ball in close to a year.

But Freeman will have to make up for what he lacks in size with a lot of energy and athleticism as he goes head to head against the bigger Chism and a beefy Rain or Shine frontline.

“What we want is to just avoid Nos. 7 and 8,” Guiao said.

Guiao also said that he will try to find ways to squeeze the best out of Chism, who scored just six points in a narrow victory over the Express before the league went on its Lenten break.

“He doesn’t play like that in practice,” Guiao said.