RAIN or Shine is not about to waste a golden opportunity slip away as it fashioned a cruising 107-86 win over a TNT crew that was without one of its biggest stars Sunday in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals matchup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Anton Asistio also took the time to shine the brightest among the less-heralded Elasto Painters guards, exploding for a personal playoffs-high 24 points in enabling the team to finally score a breakthrough win in the best-of-seven series.
Rain or Shine now aims to equalize the match-up on Wednesday in Game 4 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, when TNT is expected to miss Game 1 hero Roger Pogoy for the second straight game.
Pogoy sat out Game 3 to rest a hamstring injury he aggravated early in Game 2 last Friday and has been advised to rest for at least a week.
Clearly, the absence of the star guard who scored 28 points in the series opener enabled Rain or Shine to focus more on Calvin Oftana, preventing the latter from a reprise of his 39-point explosion in a 113-105 overtime win in Game 2.
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Coach Yeng Guiao said one major factor was the extra work put in by his E-Painters in preventing the Tropang 5G from getting full offensive rhythm as well as seizing any sizable advantage in rebounding.
"Even after the loss ng last game, Game 2 namin, I was really happy with the effort. The effort was there. We just lost the game because we just didn't make enough free throws, just a very low percentage from the free throw line, and we made one bad decision, fouling Calvin Oftana taking a three-point shot or a four-point shot, whatever," offered Guiao.
"Nandu'n na iyon, I think, the innate confidence that we can hold our own, we can compete with TNT. I was telling them before the game how hard we tried to win that last game but because of the free throws and that one bad decision talo kami.
"If we can replicate that effort, make our free throws and then play a little smarter, maybe we can win this game."
The E-Painters did heed Guiao's call, making all but two of their 18 charities, committing just seven turnovers to the Tropa's 15 and hauling down 47 rebounds - one more than their foes.
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Offense was hardly a problem with Adrian Nocum, Santi Santillan, Caelan Tiongson, Andrei Caraacut and even Keith Datu providing the consistent firepower that propelled Rain or Shine to an early 30-10 lead and a 51-37 halftime cushion.
Then Asistio took over in the third period with 14 of his points before adding seven more in the fourth stanza which he capped with his second four-pointer of the match that made it a 105-76 count.
"Siguro just being ready to step up," simply said Asistio, who scored just three points in the first two games but went 7-of-9 this time, including 4-of-5 from 3s, on top of six assists.
Despite sitting out the entire fourth period, Oftana still finished with 16 points to pace TNT. (NC)
