Guiao: Free throw discrepancy ‘too big’ in Game 5

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

For Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao, it doesn’t take any expert to know what Sunday’s game boiled down to.

“The story of this ball game is the free throws, plain and simple. Wag na natin pahirapan ng kung ano pang mga over-analysis natin dyan,” he said, after his squad’s 86-78 Game 5 defeat. “In a championship series, if they have 27 free throws and we only have 11, that means wala pa kaming kalahati sa attempts nila.”

The Aces shot 23-of-27 from the charity stripe on Sunday, compared to just 8-of-11 for the Elasto Painters.

In Game 4 on Friday, Alaska went 27-of-41 from the free throw line to Rain or Shine’s 26-of-32, prompting the outspoken mentor to raise his eyebrows.

“Alaska has been given too many free throws. The discrepancy is just too big. Looking at the other numbers, di naman nagkakalayo lahat eh, sa free throws lang,” he said. “It was a close game, the score does not reflect how close this game was. Those free throws really mattered a lot.”

The fiery coach did admit that his side was responsible for doing such, giving up a total of 28 fouls for the game, and it’s a concern he and his coaching staff will be looking forward on resolving.

“If we can minimize giving up that many free throws, maybe we can finish it off on Wednesday. There are very minor adjustments that will be made. They know our game and we know their game, it’s just we have to be able to conscious and aware that we cannot be in penalty situation very early in the quarter,” he said, as the Rain or Shine big men were saddled in foul trouble all game long, all contributing to its demise in the end.

Despite dropping the last two games, Guiao still sees the title as theirs for the taking.

“We’re still in a good place. We have two chances to win a championship,” he said. “We will still keep making the adjustments, that’s the advantage you get when you’re up 3-0. We’ll make use of that advantage of having the luxury of doing the adjustments until we get it right.”