‘Rain’ reigns with odd mix of hardcourt heroes

MANILA, Philippines - Coach Yeng Guiao raves over this hard-fighting crew – Rain or Shine’s “reign-makers.”

He insists that this wild bunch is unique in many ways, unusual in the cutthroat pro league hours after the Elasto Painters finished off the Alaska Aces, 109-92, in Game Six to bag the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday.

“I had not seen a champion team like this. This is very unique, highly unusual and unorthodox,” said Guiao of the latest team he steered to a PBA championship.

Paul Lee, Jeff Chan and company completed ROS’ swashbuckling comeback from two straight defeats to nail its second title before a huge crowd.

This special crew carried the load offensively and defensively as they made up for Pierre Henderson-Niles’ meager outputs although the import made his presence felt in other departments.

“I had not seen a team winning a championship with an import scoring single-digit outputs and playing limited minutes. It’s really a team effort where the locals covered for the import, and the import providing just what the team needed and nothing more,” Guiao added.

“None of my previous championships is like this. It’s a testimony to the culture, character and the system developed by this team,” Guiao also said.

He mentioned rookie Maverick Ahanmisi, sophomore Jericho Cruz and transferee Jewel Ponferada acquitting quickly and becoming key mixes to the team with old core players in Lee, Chan, Beau Belga, JR Quiñahan, Gabe Norwood, Chris Tiu, Raymond Almazan and Jireh Ibañes.

“Their assimilation was so quick that they contributed big in this championship,” said Guiao.

For the fiery veteran bench tactician, the second ROS championship in four years ranks among the sweetest of all his achievements.

“It’s close to the top or to the one I won with Red Bull. We had unknown players then, newcomers in the PBA who beat a powerhouse team in San Miguel led by Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle and Olsen Racela,” said Guiao.

Guiao himself recalled, though, that then PBA newbies Junthy Valenzuela, Lordy Tugade, Jimwell Torion were reinforced by a prolific import in Tony Lang.

 And who would forget Tony Harris and Ronnie Thompkins in the Swift Mighty Meaty champion teams of Guiao in the 90s.

Henderson-Niles is of much lesser breed but nonetheless helped the Elasto Painters conquer Rob Dozier and the Alaska Milk Aces.

With mere averages of 9.6 points and 10.8 rebounds, Niles is going home a winner.

The Memphis U alum was of biggest help to the E-Painters in cutting Greg Slaughter and JuneMar Fajardo down to size in their victories over Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel Beer in the earlier stages of post-elims play.

In the finale, the backcourt wizardry and shooting of Lee, Cruz, Ahanmisi and Chan came to the fore.

Lee, struggling in his return from injury in the eliminations, regained his form in the title playoff, stepping up in Games One, Two and Six to win the Cignal TV Finals MVP award.

Cruz emerged the team’s leading scorer in the whole conference with 13.4 points per game, followed by Quiñahan (12.6), Chan (12.0), Ahanmisi (10.3), and Lee (9.6).

With the series slipping away from their hands following losses in Games Four and Five, the players took it upon themselves to sit down and talk.

“They had lunch after our Game Five defeat. I let them, without meddling on what they talked about,” said Guiao.

“That’s the kind of team this is. They’re very mature. They stick together. They get emotional, they can get mad or angry at each other, but it’s nothing personal. They know that the intentions of everybody is just to help the team win,” Guiao added.

With nine straight semifinals, five leading to finals and one all the way to the crown, Rain or Shine has easily been the most consistent team in the league at the moment.

“With the team that we have right now, the minimum goal next conference is to make the semifinals again,” said Guiao.