Painters thwart Elite

Shawn Taggart. PBA IMAGES

ANTIPOLO—Starting 3-0 in their defense of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia sounded far from satisfied.

“We can’t be happy with the way we are playing,” Garcia said Sunday night, moments after his Elasto Painters barely scraped past undermanned Blackwater, 95-88, in the eliminations at Ynares Center here.

“There’s a lot of improvement needed, especially in execution [of our offense],” he added as the Painters needed two big Jay Washington triples inside the final 2:45 to finally dust off the Elite in the game where Rain or Shine trailed most of the way.

Still, it was just the start that the Painters obviously want, as they reclaimed a piece of the early lead with idle Meralco before they part ways on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Shawn Taggart continues to be the main man for the Painters, with the towering import finishing with 26 points and 12 rebounds that offset the mighty performance of Blackwater counterpart Greg Smith.

The Elite rode Smith early and were very much in the game, looking poised to pulling out their first win only to go super cold when it truly mattered.

Rookie Mac Belo hit a three-pointer that made it 87-84 for the Elite heading into the final 3:40, but that slim lead wasn’t enough to cushion the whirlwind finish that the Painters would come up with.

Rain or Shine would actually hit three straight triples, with Maverick Ahanmisi touching off that torrid stretch just 17 seconds after knotting the game for the last time at 87.

Washington would then hit two straight—his only buckets for the night—to bail the Painters out.

“I guess the story were the big shots of Jay (Washington),” Garcia, who took over from Yeng Guiao at the start of the season and is thrust with the responsibility of leading the Painters to their first successful title defense, went on.

“We can still do better,” he said as most of the tournament’s big guns remain in Rain or Shine’s elimination round schedule.

Rain or Shine will be playing for the fourth time in the first eight playdates of the young conference, and Garcia wants his Painters to go to their old ways, and that is playing more as a team.

“There are lessons we have to continue learning,” he said. “We need to play better as a team.”

Smith fired 34 points that went with 20 rebounds, and the Elite were able to play a lot better compared to the last time after several locals stepped up to fill the void the injured Art dela Cruz Jr. created.