Video by INQUIRER.net’s Ryan Leagogo and Noy Morcoso III
MANILA, Philippines—Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao called out his locals for not showing up in Game 3. And clearly, the message was sent.
Import Arizona Reid got plenty of help as the Elasto Painters hung on to an 88-79 win over San Mig Coffee to force a deciding Game 5 in the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals Monday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
And for Guiao, there was really no secret to beating the Mixers, whose comeback fell short this time around.
Az Reid of Rain or Shine (light) vs MArc Pingris of San Mig (dark). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio
“Well it’s really just a simple formula for winning today: We just played a lot harder. Definitely a lot harder than in that Game 3,” said Guiao. “As long as we’re playing with energy and intensity we have a chance at winning the game
“Also, we got others involved in scoring other than the import. We played a lot better defense today than we did in Game 3. But it’s really just postponing their party, we’re hoping we have a chance to cancel it on Wednesday,” added Guiao, who is looking to guide the Painters to just their second championship in franchise history.
Reid, the two-time Best Import, led all scorers with 22 points that went with a game-high 17 rebounds. And unlike in Game 3 where he was the lone Painter in double digits in a 69-78 loss Saturday night, he got the help he needed Monday.
Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood scored 14 points each while Beau Belga and Ryan Araña had 11 and 10 points, respectively. The three players also grabbed six rebounds apiece and drilled in timely buckets that kept the Mixers at bay late.
“They just beat us up today,” San Mig coach Tim Cone admitted, after his team fell behind by as much as 20 points in the second quarter before its rally came up short.
Game 4 looked a whole lot like Game 1 where the Mixers came back from 17 points down in the third quarter to win. The big difference, though, is that he Painters were able to stand their ground with Lee, Araña and Norwood providing the big baskets.
The Mixers came closest at six points, 47-53, after a basket by James Yap but Lee answered with a triple from the deep right corner that momentarily stopped the run.
Araña then sank a 3-pointer that pushed his team’s lead back to double figures, 63-52, with 3:19 remaining in the third quarter before Norwood, who was also huge at the defensive end as he disrupted Blakely throughout the contest, completed a three-point play for a 76-66 advantage with 7:54 to go.
“Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap and say they played great. And they did. They came out and played great. They hit shots, they spread their shots and lot of guys made some shots,” Cone said.
“Obviously, we gave up too many open looks with our defense. We seemed just a step slow tonight.”
And one of those looks was another trey by Araña that pushed the lead back to 14 before Belga followed it up with a layup, 85-69, with 3:16 remaining after PJ Simon and Marqus Blakely failed to convert an ill-advised alleyoop play.
Blakely led the Mixers with 21 points and 16 rebounds but scored just one point in the fourth period.