BOTH NLEX and Rain or Shine are expected to exert extra effort Wednesday when they clash at the start of the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
More so for the Road Warriors, according to coach Jong Uichico, who said their only advantage over the seventh-ranked Elasto Painters is the win-once incentive they have for copping No. 2 in the eliminations.
"Hindi pa kami that seasoned, unlike Rain or Shine," reasoned Uichico. "Though they are young, they have some young players, they're already seasoned."
Indeed, Rain or Shine Uichico's wary approach stems from the fact that the stint marks the first time his NLEX crew got past the eliminations with a such an advantage while the E-Painters have been a constant presence in the playoffs and even reached the last two semifinals.
"We are (relatively) new to this situation. We've been always either looking up at the standings or not even given the chance to look at the standings," explained Uichico.
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"But it is a good situation. We'll just try to do the best we can with this opportunity that was given to us. Hopefully, we'd get over the hump," added the nine-time champion coach. "Ready naman kami sa sitwasyon na ganito. We'll just try to play the way we have been playing and just hope, work for the best."
Putting on the hard hat and seriously buckling down to work is indeed a must for NLEX, as Uichico himself admitted.
"Rain or Shine naman alam ng lahat kung ano strength nila. They are the No. 1 scoring team, they play physical defense, they can rack up points. Marami silang weapons. They can score in any situation," Uichico pointed out.
"That's what we have to able to contain. Kasi there's not one thing na weakness nila, offensively."
Uichico also shrugged off his Road Warriors' 109-95 win over the E-Painters in their lone elimination round meeting last April 12. "Not counted na iyon. First game nila so we caught them off-guard, kumbaga. Iba na inilalaro nila ngayon," he said.
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One bright note for Uichico is the return to action of the likes of Anthony Semerad, Javee Mocon and Dominic Fajardo from the injuries that sidelined them in a 108-113 loss to NorthPort last week.
"From our last game naka-recover na naman sila. Lahat naman sila okay na. Kumpleto naman kami," related Uichico, who needs more healthy bodies to help main man Robert Bolick in frustrating an E-Painters crew led by Caelan Tiongson, Santi Santillan and Adrian Nocum.(NC)
