E-Painters pull off heist

MANILA, Philippines — Dull start, vibrant finish.

Thoroughly dominated in the beginning, Rain or Shine made a strong U-turn in the second half to steal their way to a 124-120 opening victory over Converge in the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters found themselves buried in a 21-point avalanche but kept on fighting, clawing back with a furious third-quarter storm and using their playoff experience to go all the way.

“I think the most important thing is playoff toughness , yung buwis-buhay attitude,” said coach Yeng Guiao after completing the steal.

It was a tale of two halves for Guiao’s charges, who made a big course correction after the break, unloading a 42-28 salvo in the third to wrest the lead, 97-96, then closing it out with a 27-24 exchange.

“Marami kaming mali nung first half. We gave up too many offensive rebounds, we missed free throws, we had 13 turnovers, we gave up 27 extra possessions to the other team in the first half, said Guiao.

“That was really the problem. Sabi namin kung maso-solve lang namin mga problema na ‘yun, we can get back in the game which is what happened. “

The game–changer happened in the third where Deo Cuajao fired three triples and a four-ball in a 13-point barrage, Aaron Fuller punched in 11 and Caelan Tiongson shot 10 spiked by two treys to spark the ROS fightback.

Later, Barangay Ginebra landed the first blow on San Miguel Beer, 104-95.

The Gin Kings detonated an 18-4 bomb at the start of the fourth to run away with the tone-setter in the best-of-five tussle.

with Justin Brownlee still dealing with health issues. “Very big boost. Obviously, si Bennie, aside from his outside shooting, he has height and he’s a versatile player. We’re very excited and Bennie himself is very excited,” she said.