MANILA, Philippines — Yeng Guiao knows one of these days, his league-leading Rain or Shine squad will encounter a bad, shooting night.
That happened on Tuesday night.
While the Elasto Painters zoomed to a good start, establishing leads of as big as 18 points, Guiao’s charges uncharacteristically turned the ball over one too many, and shot poorly from the floor the rest of the way throughout the second half.
These basically led to ROS blowing that big lead and eventually, allowing Phoenix to hand Guiao’s squad its first loss after a 7-0 start in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.
“It was good while it lasted. That will really happen, that (winning streak) will stop at some point,” Guiao told reporters after the game where Rain or Shine dropped a narrow 83-87 decision to Phoenix at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The fiery mentor said the loss released the pressure from the players in trying to maintain the winning streak. Though one thing is sure, the Elasto Painters remain focused on their goal of trying to secure a twice-to-beat advantage heading into the playoffs.
“We want to win as much as we can, bit we know that day will come when things won’t work. We missed 18 layups and lot of them, point blank,” the 67-year-old Guiao pointed out.
“We turned the ball over a lot more than usual. We averaged 11 or 12 turnovers, but tonight, we had like 18. And that happens, we knew there was going to be a bad night one of these days,” he added.
Still, Guiao said, they wouldn’t want to sulk or feel too low after his team’s first loss, knowing they have piled up the wins and are closing in at securing a twice-to-beat edge.
“We’re still no. 1 (in the standings). So we try to keep the objective and try to secure the twice-to-beat advantage. I think if you’re looking at it from a positive perspective, it’s time to reset,” he said.
“We already won seven games, then you lose one, so you can look forward to another win streak.” Rain or Shine’s last four elimination round assignments though won’t be easy with the team facing off with Magnolia this Saturday, followed by NLEX (April 29), Barangay Ginebra (May 3) and closing it with Titan Ultra (May 8).
