Painters return to finals, oust Beermen

Game Monday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine snapped a string of heart-rending playoff losses to San Miguel and dashed the Beermen’s hopes for a “treble” with a king-sized performance that carried the Elasto Painters to a return stint in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.

Churning out what’s easily their best game in the conference, the E-Painters blew past the Beermen, 124-99, and into the best-of-seven titular series versus the winner of the Alaska Milk-Meralco matchup.

 Humbled by an all-Filipino SMB side, 98-104, in the previous game, Rain or Shine scored a vengeful triumph versus the Beermen and comebacking import AZ Reid to eventually book a return trip to the Commissioner’s Cup Finals that the E-Painters lost to the TNT Texters last season.

At the buzzer, the E-Painters celebrated like they have won the championship.

“San Miguel Beer is very strong. We pulled off a big upset,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao of their 3-1 conquest of the Beermen in their best-of-five semis series.

The Beermen had been a tough matchup against whom the E-Painters lost the 2015 Governors Cup semifinals, 1-3, and the recent Philippine Cup Final Four, 2-4.

“It’s a great feeling to be back in the finals especially beating a team like San Miguel Beer with AZ Reid as import. We lost to them last year. I was worried but I knew AZ didn’t have the legs and is not in shape. It’s really the best time for us to beat them,” said Guiao.

“It’s satisfying kasi previously may duda ka if you can beat them. The players proved me wrong,” Guiao also said.

“I’m really most proud of the resiliency of the team. I’ve not been practicing with team because I’m busy of my campaign. The players themselves are motivated. I have my shortcomings with time constraint. The players are doing it on their own,” added Guiao, running for reelection as congressman of the first district of Pampanga.

Paul Lee, Pierre Henderson-Niles, Gabe Norwood, Chris Tiu, Jricho Cruz and Raymond Almazan all scored in double figures with the rest of the E-Painters having their contributions in the largest output the team put in a game this conference.

San Miguel didn’t get a chance in this contest where Rain or Shine got into a great groove in the second period and played superbly well all the way to finish.

The E-Painters simply smothered the Beermen on the way to a sixth finals in franchise history.

Barely beaten by the Texters in a double-overtime grind in Game Seven last year, the E-Painters may stand a good chance to go all the way to the top this time against the Aces or the Bolts.

With the 2-1 lead in their own series, Alaska goes for the kill versus Meralco at 7 p.m. tonight also at the Big Dome.

“Bahala silang magpatayan,” said Guiao on which team he prefers to play in the finals.

The E-Painters clobbered the Beermen, 38-20, on a monstrous second-quarter effort and carried a big 61-42 spread going into the final half.

 Lee, Tiu, Cruz, Jireh Ibanes and JR Quinahan all came out firing, hitting at a remarkable clip to pull away from a 23-22 edge at the start of the second period.

The E-Painters converted 72 percent of their shots while the Beermen struggled with a 28-percent shooting in that quarter.

The Beermen charged to within 11, 66-77, in the third, but the E-Painters quickly eased the pressure as Niles, Cruz, Tiu worked on a 15-4 salvo that made it 92-70 after three quarters.

 Later, even rookies Josan Nimes and Don Trollano contributed in their complete domination of the Beermen, the playoff top seeds, who lost only three games in the elims with original import Tyler Wilkerson.

The E-Painters, meanwhile, have gone 6-1 with import sub Niles.