Not a single Rain or Shine Elasto Painter came out of the locker room about an hour after absorbing a painful 103-94 Game 5 loss Wednesday.
“It was pretty quiet,” Gabe Norwood, one of the longest-tenured Elasto Painters, described the atmosphere inside the dugout. “I think everybody knew what was at stake in this game and taking control heading into Game 6.”
The Elasto Painters were within good distance of the San Miguel Beermen until the final period, but slowly began to lose grasp of Game 5 as they eventually fell to a 2-3 series hole.
“Today, they beat us in our own game,” head coach Yeng Guiao shared.
Rain or Shine was “out-ran” by San Miguel, as the Beermen held a 16-2 lead in fastbreak points. The Beermen also took advantage of 22 Rain or Shine turnovers, and had more assists, 23-14.
“It should be other way around,” Guiao said of the team’s assists and turnovers.
Along with the loss is the stinging thought of the team making an impressive run in a conference which might go down again as not enough.
Norwood hopes it has not gotten into the minds of his teammates yet.
“I hope not,” he said. “I can’t speak for everybody. But this is a team we have beaten twice in a row. We can win this series. It’s just a matter of getting it done. We are right there. We just have to stay aggressive and find confidence in everybody.”
Facing adversity again, Norwood added the effort must start from the veterans. There is still a small opening, but the leaders should show the way for everyone to come together.
“It has kinda been like the running theme for this conference for us, get ourselves in a tough situation and try to pull ourselves out of it,” Norwood said.
“It comes down to a lot of the vets to go down and play the hardest game we’ve ever been in. Just lead by example. The young guys are great. They come in with confidence but it is a matter of the vets setting the tone.”
