PBA: Rain or Shine will ‘stick to system’ in hopes of staying alive

Rain or Shine Elastopainters’ Adrian Nocum and Caelan Tiongson during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals game against Converge FiberXers. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Rain or Shine young gun Adrian Nocum kept it simple: the Elasto Painters lost to Converge because of the little things.

But Nocum believes that it will also be little things that would help them stay alive PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.

SCHEDULE: 2024-2025 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals

“We don’t have to do anything different or experiment. Whatever we know, we’ll do, even the small things like boxing out or the simple things. Those were the reasons why we lost earlier,” said Nocum in Filipino after their 118-130 beatdown at the hands of the FiberXers in Game 1 of the at Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

“We’ll just stick to the system… We didn’t have our defense and our offensive rebounds out there [tonight.]”

Even with Nocum’s 14 points, three rebounds and two steals, it barely slowed the red-hot Converge squad from moving a win away from reaching the semifinals.

LIVE: PBA Commissioner Cup Quarterfinals – Converge vs Rain or Shine, Ginebra vs Meralco

The FiberXers torched the Elasto Painters with their offensive efficiency, registering a blistering 56.3 percent field goal shooting clip as a team.

It certainly didn’t help Rain or Shine’s cause that they lost the services of import Deon Thompson early in the third quarter after fouling out.

“That was so hard,” admitted Nocum. “It’s such a big thing to have an import. We really had a disadvantage but we were still there.”

Before Thompson ended his early night, he registered 14 points and six rebounds.

Unfortunately for them, Converge import Cheick Diallo dominated when he got the chance and finished with another monster game of 35 points and 17 rebounds.

All roads lead to Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday as Rain or Shine hopes to force a decider in Game 2 of the quarterfinals.