E-Painters, Fuel Masters seek key Lenten win

MANILA, Philippines - Rain or Shine and Phoenix Petroleum, who are struggling in the middle of the team standings and cellar-dwellers GlobalPort and NLEX slug it out at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight, each seeking a victory and a boost heading to a brief Lenten break.

Either the Batang Pier (0-4) or the Road Warriors (0-5) finally break into the win column in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup as they square off in a duel of heartbreak teams at 4:15 p.m.

Then the Elasto Painters (3-2) and the Fuel Masters (2-3) face off at 7 p.m., both looking to improve their slates barely up on the bottom four nearing the halfway mark of the short single round-robin elimination phase of the mid-season tourney.

Only the top eight teams will advance to the playoffs of the tournament which Rain or Shine won over Alaska Milk last season.

Coach Ariel Vanguardia said they expect another acid test for his Fuel Masters.

Vanguardia is wary of the E-Painters’ running game. “We have to stop it. We have to play better transition defense and get the rebounds,” he said.

The E-Painters have been rock solid with import Shawn Taggart as they’ve shown even in their losses to the Meralco Bolts and the Alaska Milk Aces. Both were games that could have gone either way.

Before those defeats, the E-Painters strung up three straight wins over the Road Warriors (113-105), the Mahindra Floodbuster (99-95 in overtime) and the Blackwater Elite (95-88).

Phoenix is a game behind ROS with wins over Blackwater (118-116 in overtime) and Barangay Ginebra (94-91) and blowout losses to Star (82-101), TNT KaTropa (109-134) and San Miguel Beer (88-110).

NLEX and GlobalPort are two teams left without a win and in danger of missing the post-elims play.