Hotshots sear Painters

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

There’s no doubt that Paul Lee is the Star franchise’s new face, the figure that gets things done for the Hotshots.

Up against his former team and with emotions running high, the 6-foot point guard delivered at the crunch to dramatize his role in this team as a 99-91 victory by Star over Rain or Shine gave the Hotshots a third straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Lee dropped the biggest triple of the game that opened up a five-point Star lead as the Hotshots broke away to rise to 3-2 and, more importantly, showed that this team has a
solid guy to go to every time the need arises.

“I’ve been in the league for a long time now,” Lee said in Filipino as he tried to downplay the sidebar that has been with this game since the opening day. “I just did my part and at the end of the day, I had the last laugh (on the Elasto Painters).”

Aldrech Ramos drained two more triples after Lee’s and the Hotshots put the game away, dealing the Painters their second loss in the last three games also for a 3-2 tally.

“It’s not between me and Rain or Shine,” Lee added. “My focus is just to help my team.”

Rain or Shine forged ahead, 88-84, with a little under five minutes left after James Yap—the former two-time MVP Lee was traded for—split his charities.

But the Hotshots would close out with a 15-3 run to win impressively and maintain a streak in which Lee was one of the stars of the show. Lee finished with 14 points, seven of them coming in the fourth period.

He came into last night’s game averaging 19 points in the last two Star wins and had a hard time really getting going offensively with Gabe Norwood hounding him.

PJ Simon fired 16 points to pace the Hotshots as six players finished in twin digits for coach Chito Victolero, who deflected credit for their turnaround from a 0-2 start to his players whom he said have been very “committed to play defense.”

“I wanted all of them to not be emotional (for this game),” Victolero said in Filipino. “But it just couldn’t be avoided and it showed in the end.”

Ramos, another big off-season acquisition from a Mahindra side that strangely gave its core away to different teams, finished with 12 points.

“All credit goes to the players, they really played their best and committed to (playing) defense,” Victolero said.

Raymond Almazan scattered 19 points that went with 13 rebounds for the Painters, who led big in the third period and seemed ready to win only to sputter at crunch time by making just three points inside the final four minutes.

Yap, for his part, also played well despite 3-for-10 shooting, finishing with nine points.

SCORES

STAR 99 – RAIN OR SHINE 91

STAR 99—Simon 16, Jalalon 14, Lee 14, Ramos 12, Maliksi 11, Pingris 11, Melton 6, Sangalang 6, Dela Rosa 5, Barroca 4, Reavis 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 91—Almazan 19, Washington 14, Tolomia 11, Norwood 10, Yap 9, Ponferada 8, Ahanmisi 7, Belga 6, Cruz 5, Chan 2.
Quarters: 23-23, 42-41, 74-75, 99-91