Head coach Yeng Guiao during his first head coaching stint with Rain or Shine. PBA IMAGES
Having been in so many Philippine Basketball Association wars, Yeng Guiao knows that his young players at Rain or Shine are still learning his ropes and that the Elasto Painters’ latest Commissioner’s Cup loss will only toughen his squad in the long run.
Gutting it out without import Steve Taylor Jr., the Painters put up a gallant stand before sputtering in the final two frames, ultimately losing to TNT, 110-91, at Smart Araneta Coliseum last Saturday night.
“We had a good [second] quarter,” he told reporters on his way out of the venue. “Coming into the locker room, we thought we had a chance to keep [things] close. But we played a bad third quarter—lots of turnovers, lots of bad shots.”
While Guiao understands that there’s still plenty left to polish on a squad he pretty much inherited right before the conference, the tough-talking mentor pointed out that it’s such games that should fast-track growth.
“I guess it’s part of the learning process. For them, it’s a new system, a new environment,” he said. “A lot of our players are young, [and] they have to be subjected to tough, pressure-packed situations. Situations where you won’t have your import or your key players.”
Rain or Shine missed Taylor due to the league’s health and safety protocols, but is expected to rejoin the team’s practices by Monday. From thereon, Guiao is also expecting his young charges to cash in on the lessons from that loss that had the rugged crew sliding to 2-3.
“You should be able to fight and give a good account of yourself [during those times],” he said. “Earlier, I was really disappointed. We could lose, but we shouldn’t lose that way—losing big and collapsing in the third.”
Rain or Shine currently has three rookies in Gian Mamuyac, Shaun Ildefonso, and Jhonard Clarito, and four sophomores in Mike Nieto, Anton Asistio, Andrei Caracut and Santi Santillan.
“We don’t want to use the absence of our import [as an excuse]. Even if we had him, if we played the way we did in that third quarter, we’d still end up losing,” said Guiao.
Guiao, who reunited with his old club just a little over two weeks before the conference, is hoping the club could arrest its two-game skid before it gets worse.