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Coming off what coach Caloy Garcia said was a “bump in the road,” Rain or Shine goes back to business today trying to stay in the running for the second twice-to-beat privilege in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
A week after blowing what looked like a won game, the Elasto Painters take to the Cuneta Astrodome floor in Pasay at 4:15 p.m. against skidding Meralco, looking not only for a win that would keep them in the running for the playoff incentive but also to show everyone that they are ready to move forward.
“This will be a test of character now for us,” Garcia said over the phone yesterday as his Painters try to improve their 5-3 record and momentarily peel out of a second place tie with idle GlobalPort. “We could have won that game, and the players know that.
“We could have been sitting in second place alone all this time. But it’s all behind us now,” Garcia said.
The Painters blew command against rock-solid San Miguel Beer last Jan. 13, going scoreless in the final 2:43 of regulation to lose a six-point lead and go down, 107-101, in overtime.
Had they come out with a different result, the path to the second win-once incentive in the quarterfinals would have been smoother for the Painters, who are playing their first full conference under Garcia in six years after Yeng Guiao’s transfer to NLEX at the start of the season.
Instead, Rain or Shine will have to grind out wins in their last three assignments if possible, with the most intriguing one to come on Jan. 29 when the Painters and the Batang Pier lock horns in a potential tie-breaking clash also at Cuneta.
“I was already wondering that day (after the San Miguel loss) how they (Painters) would come out from a loss like that,” Garcia said.
“But they showed me right away, in the first day of practice after that, that they are up to the task.”
Raymond Almazan, a 6-foot-7 center out of Letran in the NCAA who churns out consistent double-double numbers for Garcia, will likely be out for the rest of the elimination round because of a leg injury. Meanwhile, Blackwater tries to stay in the upper half of the standings as it clashes with crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra in the 7 p.m. contest.