Streaking Painters battle struggling Boosters

Yeng Guiao hit the nail on the head more than a month ago when his Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters dealt Petron Blaze a thorough beating early in the PBA Philippine Cup.

“As I said before the game, this is the best time to play Petron,” Guiao told reporters then. “They’re still in transition and they’ll be a lot dangerous in another three to four games. We were lucky we were their first foes.”

A 102-86 victory seemed easy even with the Painters playing without their biggest star— former Rookie of the Year Paul Lee—and even with the Boosters unveiling this year’s No. 1 choice in June Mar Fajardo.

More than five weeks later, Petron hasn’t shown the cohesiveness that Guiao—and probably the rest of the field—fear from the Boosters, who will be taking a three-game losing streak against the hottest team in the tournament at 7:30 p.m.

“For me, Petron remains as one of the toughest teams in the tournament because of its lineup,” Guiao said. “That roster is capable of exploding anytime. Just because they (Boosters) are struggling doesn’t mean that they are weak.

“We have to play defense,” Guiao added.

Rain or Shine can grab a piece of the lead with a victory and shove the Boosters deeper in the standings even as Alaska tries to get back on track in its clash with Air21 at 5:15 p.m.

The Painters have been very sharp of late and have taken down one powerhouse after the other.

Petron, meanwhile, is 1-3 after a coaching change and will be coming off an 81-95 loss to Meralco last Sunday, stoking the flames of a huge shakeup in the lineup involving one of the team’s biggest stars in the coming days.

Another coaching change, incidentally, was formalized yesterday with Bong Ramos taking over Junel Baculi at Barako Bull.

Ramos and Baculi were teammates in the 1981 Mapua champion team in the NCAA under the late Olympian Charlie Badion. Ramos was Baculi’s assistant with the Energy.