The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters suffered their first loss at the hands of the Meralco Bolts on Wednesday night. And first year head coach Caloy Garcia has nothing to blame but his team’s dismal shooting.
“I think we shot very poor in this game especially from the three-point line,” lamented Garcia, moments after their 89-83 defeat at the Mall of Asia Arena, regarding their 4-of-32 shooting from beyond the arc.
“We knew that they won’t gonna give us any three-point shot. I told the players at halftime we just have to keep on taking it. And once we keep on making it, it might change the tempo of the game.
“Unfortunately, we only made four threes,” Garcia added regretfully.
Their misfiring treys only added more woes to their overall shooting from the field. Unlike their first three games, where they shot an average of 43.5 percent, the Elasto Painters only shot 31 percent out of 85 attempts tonight.
“We just missed open shots,” said Garcia of their outing. “Some of them were wide open. If we had made two or three more, we could have probably won the game. Siguro that’s the game plan of Meralco—make us take those kind of shots.”
With Rain or Shine firing blanks, their collective assists also took a hit. The Bolts displayed 18 assists, while the Elasto Painters only managed to dish out half of their opposition’s output, finishing with only nine.
“In order for you to get an assist, you have to take the pass and make the shot. We’re moving the ball but we’re not making the shots. Off night siguro ng mga shooters namin,” said Garcia.
Aside from their shooting problems, Garcia also addressed his wards’ defense. With lapses on the said end of the floor, Meralco was able to gain leverage in the final canto through a 10-4 run en route to an 82-72 lead.
“On defense naman, may lapses kami. Sinasabi ko naman palagi that there’s no such thing as perfect defense for four quarters,” he added.
Still, the 15-year tactician looks at the positives of the loss, especially his team’s hustle on the boards, where they out-rebounded Meralco, 64-54. Their bench also stepped up, as they contributed 39 points.
Garcia hopes that the effort he saw this game will be carried over into the next game on Sunday, as they face another tough task in the now-3-0 Alaska Aces.
“I like the effort of the boys in the second half. We battled the boards, we’re able to come back and we even nearly take the lead. I think Meralco just executed better,” Garcia voiced.
“Hopefully we can bring that into our next game.”
