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Rain or Shine avoided being on the wrong side of history and knocked out pesky Globalport, 103-97, in the rubber match in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals series Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Elasto Painters, who finished the eliminations with a league-best 9-2 record, avoided being the fourth no.1 team to be eliminated in the quarterfinals by the eighth seeds.
James Yap turned back the clock and delivered a performance that defied time itself putting up his best offensive game in four years with 27 points on seven three-pointers that tied his career-high mark.
Yap’s performance, however, wasn’t the only narrative in the game as Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia blasted the game officials for what he saw as unfair officiating.
“It feels good to win but I’m not satisfied with how the game ended,” said Garcia. “We didn’t get any calls in the fourth, everything they did is bump us and they weren’t called for anything.”
Globalport got called with four fouls in the fourth quarter while the Elasto Painters were whistled 12 times including a Flagrant 1 on Chris Tiu after Paolo Javelona sold it at the 5:24 mark of the period.
“If we do something like that we get called, that was terrible officiating in the fourth and I don’t know why.”
Those fouls also played a role in the Elasto Painters losing their 11-point lead, 99-88, in the final 1:38.
Globalport was able to mount a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to four, 101-97, after Stanley Pringle’s three-pointer.
Time, however, wasn’t on the side of the Batang Pier as Gabe Norwood iced the game from the stripe hitting two free throws with 10.1 seconds left.
Reggie Johnson had a team-high 29 points for the Elasto Painters while grabbing 15 rebounds and dishing out six assists while Raymond Almazan and Tiu added 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Pringle led Globalport with 23 points, five rebounds, and eight assists while Malcolm White struggled with 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting with 10 boards.
