WITH Rain or Shine having erased NLEX's quarters advantage as the higher seed, the two teams are now on even keel, each side having one final shot at the Last Four.
And it could be a great battle - a duel of teams which both love to run, move the ball and shoot the treys. Both are determined to go out and go hard in what could well be a knife-edge showdown.
It was the case in their initial tiff on Wednesday with the E-Painters barely escaping with a 92-89 win to force a rubbermatch in their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals matchup.
One side will live to play in the semis while the other takes the boot as ROS and NLEX slug it out the second and last time on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
"Ang tingin ko sa series na ito ibigay mo ang kaya mo, magtrabaho ka, at the end of the day there's the luck involved. Pwedeng one or two possessions lang ang magiging diperensya," said ROS coach Yeng Guiao bracing for war.
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"May halong swerte. Pero ang swerte dadating sa iyo kapag kinayod mo at kapag nagsipag ka which we did (in winning the previous game)," Guiao added.
On sheer guts and hard work, the Elasto Painters now have a shot at making the semifinals via a do-or-die - curiously the very same pathway they took in their last three semis stints.
"Tingin ko kaya namin. We're looking at it as we're one win away. Isang buwis buhay at semis tayo," said Guiao.
The veteran coach is asking no less than that from his troops, believing short of that wouldn't be enough to beat Robert Bolick and his teammates.
"Na-survive lang naming yung torrid shooting nila. Ayaw sumablay eh," said Guiao of the hot-shooting Road Warriors.
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"Hindi kami papakampante. Buwis buhay bawat possession," said Jhonard Clarito, who is to come off his amazing 20-point, 21-rebound game.(SB)
