Since Saturday night, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters have been the butt of jokes among the PBA faithful. Besides their off-court problems, their stinging 94-98 loss to the Kia Picanto — a team that had been on a historic 16-game losing skid prior to that win — was the reason.
That is why everyone from the Rain or Shine camp was hard-pressed to bounce back from that loss. Fortunately for them, they managed perfectly, as they vented their ire on the skidding NLEX Road Warriors, 97-86, six days later.
“I wish we could have played like this last game, but ganun talaga basketball,” said Elasto Painters head coach Caloy Garcia.
“I told the players the only way we can forget the game against Kia is basically to win this game.”
Leading them to the win, which improved their card to 3-3, was three-year pro Maverick Ahanmisi, turning in a conference-best performance of 20 points spiked by five triples, on top of eight rebounds and three assists.
For Ahanmisi though, his outing was just the result of his eagerness to make up for their showing versus Kia.
“I know I didn’t have a good couple of games, especially the Kia game,” the third-year pro rued, despite having nine points, eight boards, and four dimes against the Picanto. “So I just tried to come out today and played aggressive.
“I also owe it to the coaches and to those guys in the locker room who work hard everyday and they trust me as much as I trust them.”
Rain or Shine played much better than they did against Kia, especially in terms of closing out the match — they nearly lost hold of a 20-point lead late in the fourth, but they were able to steady the ship enough to prevent a collapse.
And for the Filipino-American guard, communication among the Elasto Painters is what made wonders in this victory of theirs — a huge lesson which they have learned in their sorry loss to the often-ridiculed Picanto.
“From that game we knew we weren’t communicating as much as we should so I think that really showed here today. We were talking and really more active,” said the 26-year-old from California.
“We just need to play more consistent.”
