Ahanmisi comes to fore with Lee hurting

Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao admits to missing Paul Lee “a little” while the Elasto Painters are winning.

The super point guard, for his part, says that with the team on a roll, “the pressure for me to return is not there.”

Rain or Shine got the Lee-like performance from rookie Maverick Ahanmisi on Wednesday night against defending champion San Miguel Beer to stay unscathed and on top of the standings in the PBA Philippine Cup.

Lee sat out a third straight game with an injured knee and is not expected to be back for at least another month.

“We still miss Paul and I wish he were playing,” Guiao said after a 99-84 whipping of the Beermen in a physical match at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. “We miss him (just) a little when we’re winning.”

But the Painters have held on, and Ahanmisi validated Guiao’s expectations—“He can play in this league”—by holding the Painters together in the face of several rallies by the Beermen in the fourth period.

“A lot of people were doubting Maverick,” Guiao said. “He showed (everyone) that he could withstand the pressure.”

After watching the game in jeans, Lee said the 6-foot-1 Ahanmisi’s fine play is a good sign for the squad: “It doesn’t pressure me on my recovery.”

Guiao told the Inquirer that putting Ahanmisi in the pressure cooker against the Beermen to prove himself in Lee’s absence wasn’t his plan.

“You know me. I don’t plan on those things (before games),” Guiao said.

Ahanmisi, the surprise third overall pick by the Painters in the last Draft, hit seven of his 14 points in the fourth period and played 31 minutes at the point.

“If we keep winning games, the silence [from the critics] will come,” Ahanmisi said, aware that Guiao raised eyebrows when the coach chose him in favor of college stars like Norbert Torres of La Salle and Letran’s Kevin Racal.

“This team, they are doing a good of relieving the pressure from me,” he added.