Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Paul Lee dragged his heavy legs with his head down as he came out of the losing dugout at Mall of Asia Arena Saturday night.
The most coldblooded player in the league has never looked so vulnerable after another jarring loss pushed Rain or Shine to the brink.
Lee just had one of his worst games and it couldn’t have come at the most inopportune time with the Elasto Painters fighting for survival.
“Maybe, bad game,” said Lee after a string of pauses. “Players have off nights and maybe, it’s not my day today.”
The 27-year-old guard wasn’t himself in a game Rain or Shine needed him to be at his best, scoring only two points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field with three turnovers in close to 21 minutes.
Rain or Shine has been the epitome of consistency, having made the playoffs the past 12 conferences. But their latest debacle, an 82-75 setback at the hands of San Miguel Beer, put the Painters’ streak and season in question.
“It’s a little heavy, but we need to be positive. We still have one more game. We just need to stay together,” said Lee.
“It hurts. We knew what was on the line,” said ROS skipper Gabe Norwood. “This win pretty much would’ve taken care of us getting in but it’s just a tough spot right now, we’re going through some things. We’ve got one more chance to get it right.”
The Painters’ season will be on the line against the Star Hotshots,whose status makes them a dangerous foe, on Wednesday in Antipolo.
At 4-6, Rain or Shine had already exhausted its chances to make the quarterfinals outright that even with a victory over Star, the Painters will only assure themselves of a playoff for the last quarters spot.
“We need to stay together. We were together during the ups, now this is the down part. We’re down right now. There’s no reason for us to blame one another because Rain or Shine has been known to be a team. We don’t point fingers at anyone. We need to be together during the ups and downs, no matter what happens,” Lee said.
Rain or Shine has never missed the semifinal round the last nine conferences, including four Finals appearances and a couple of championships, making them one of the most successful franchises in the last four years.
Having that much success, Norwood admits the Painters have forgotten what its like to fail miserably.
“We’re not used to it. This is unfamiliar territory for everybody. The last 3 years have been pretty consistent for all of us. We just got to find a way to push,” Norwood said.
“We’re going through a time where we’ve got no idea what to do. We’ve never been here before, we haven’t been in this situation kind of fighting for our lives in the eliminations. We’ve gone through tough series and things like that but hopefully this will be a character-builder for us as individuals and as a team to come out and get a win on Friday.”
Backs against the wall, the Painters are left with one thing to do.
“It’s a long year, we’re bound to hit a drought here and there. We just got to find a way to push through it. We’re all pros. We’re a tight group of guys so I’m sure we’re going to push ourselves to find a way.”