Rain or Shine holds off Meralco, forces Game 3
Wayne Chism file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Rain or Shine held off Meralco, 102-93, in a rough-and-tumble game to knot their best-of-three quarterfinals series at 1-1 in the 2014 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Wayne Chism displayed an all-around game with 26 points, seven rebounds, five steals and six blocks for the Elasto Painters, who led by 20 points at one point before staving off repeated rallies by the Bolts.
“We just wanted to come back strong. We focused with our defense in this game, our offense was just secondary. The energy we exerted in defense just rubbed off on our offense,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao.
The Bolts pulled to within five, 88-93, on Sunday Salvacion’s fifth and final triple of the night with still 1:36 remaining before Paul Lee scored six straight for the Painters to seal the win.
Lee returned in the fourth quarter after getting shaken up in the second quarter when he banged knees with Meralco’s Cliff Hodge.
“It was a very physical rugged game but physicality has a place in this league. But I think there’s some things that will need the attention of the league because it has gotten really out of control sometimes,” Guiao also said.
Guiao expressed displeasure with how the game was played during the post-game interview. He even singled out Hodge, whom he claimed threw a punch at his player Raymond Almazan in the closing seconds.
“But I think punching a player in the face on a rebound play something done by Cliff Hodge, I think that’s way out of the rules of this league,” said Guiao.
“And Cliff Hodge, he’s a person who’s been hurting a lot of players his style, he’s just out there to hurt people. I think the situation with Paul (Lee) was also with Cliff Hodge. The last play was a fist in the face of Almazan. The refs just missed a lot of calls. It’s really getting out of control,” Guiao added.
Guiao waited for Hodge as both teams were on their way to their respective dugouts and had something to say for the sophomore forward.
Darnell Jackson paced Meralco, which committed a league conference-high with 24 turnovers, with 21 points and 22 rebounds but shot just seven-of-23 from the field.
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