Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, armed with a new import, pressed the reset button on his team’s Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup campaign after opening the tournament with four straight losses.
The result was a mild success: A victory over lowly Blackwater, 122-117, Sunday night.
“Coach said this is a clean slate. 0-0 at this point. 1-0 now,” said Greg Smith II, the original choice for the 2016 Governors’ Cup who was just a hairline past the height limit that season and was replaced by Dior Lowhorn.
Smith is a replacement import this time around, is sold on the reset and wants his teammates to take advantage.
“[Guiao] said that he wants to reset everything that happened before and you know make this just a new opportunity for everybody,” the American forward told reporters on his way out of Mall of Asia Arena.
Smith has been inactive for about half a year after the birth of his first child. The last time he was competitive was during ESPN’s The Basketball Tournament nearly six months ago. But a chance to finally come through for Rain or Shine and straighten things out was just too hard to pass up on, he said.
“I wasn’t particularly looking to play soon only because [my son] is so young. But this opportunity was something I really wanted to do because, like I said, back in 2016, I wanted to be here and this is a place that I really do feel comfortable in. Now I’m here. Hopefully, we could win some games now.”
Smith’s return couldn’t be more timely for Guiao and his crew. At 1-4, the Painters still have six more games on their schedule and a number of those are winnable.
Different task
Up next for 1-4 Rain or Shine is Terrafirma, followed by Magnolia, NLEX, and then Phoenix. The rugged crew then goes up against NorthPort before ending the elimination phase against San Miguel Beer.
Smith knows that it’s a totally different task having to lead a team that’s trying to turn around its campaign as opposed to helping it to annex a second PBA crown—his original mission from nearly seven years ago.
But he was just as firm in saying that both tasks pack the same kind of pressure.
“I still think it’s the same kind of pressure. This is a proud program. I know Gabe [Norwood] is a champion, Beau [Belga] is a champion. These guys are looking to win,” Smith said. “I think it’s the same kind of pressure as if I came in 2016: To go ahead and try to get us into the playoffs and make something happen.”
“I feel like—especially with the locals that we have, that if we can get there [to these playoffs], we can beat somebody and make it a game at least,” he said. INQ