Yeng Guiao always knew what Rain or Shine would get from Deo Cuajao after the rookie spearheaded the third-quarter turnaround to beat Converge in the opening salvo of their PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal affair on Tuesday.
The former Letran Knight dropped 13 points in the period alone behind a 3-for-3 clip from three and a four, powering a massive 42-point eruption to swing the momentum in their favor after being down by 21 in the frame prior.
“Makapal talaga mukha niyan eh,” the champion mentor said with a smile moments after their 124-120 victory at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Kahit nung nasa Letran pa ‘yan, sa NC pa ‘yan… Kaya namin siya kinuha dahil makapal ang mukha niya,” he added, drawing chuckles from the press.
Cuajao finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, and Rain or Shine’s second-round pick simply felt relieved to have regained his shooting touch.
“Ano na lang din, parang bounce-back na rin para sa sarili ko. Kasi in the past three games, hindi ako maka-shoot talaga e,” he reflected.
Cuajao did struggle in their last three games of the elimination round. After dropping 19 in their loss to Barangay Ginebra, he scored 24 points combined in their meetings against Blackwater, Magnolia, and Phoenix Super LPG.
Cuajao shot just 11-of-39 from the field across those games. But worse, he converted only one triple in 14 attempts, and none from 27 feet away.
(C) PBA Images
“Hinahanapan ko lang ng paraan,” he said when asked about opposing defenses going harder on him, especially during that bad stretch personally.
“Parang ginagawa ko na rin sa college, ‘yung mga hard close-out; kumbaga, hinahanapan ko na lang ng paraan,” added the 25-year-old native of Cotabato, who recently signed an extension.
“Kahit sa ensayo, ineensayo ko palagi ‘yung mga counter.”
Find ways he did and everything else followed, feeling his confidence coming back the moment he hit his first triple of the game at the 10:06-mark of the third canto—off a Caelan Tiongson assist—to cut the gap to a decade, 63-73.
“Nung na-shoot ‘yung una ko, sabi ko, tuloy-tuloy na ‘to. Kumpiyansa na lang,” said Cuajao, who also finished with four rebounds, two assists, and a block.
Not long after, he’d go on a tear, much of course to the delight of Rain or Shine as it brought itself back into the bout—and eventually took the W to draw first blood in the best-of-5 affair between two proud independent teams.
“Siyempre, happy ako kasi nakauna kami sa series na ‘to,” Cuajao said.
“Importante talaga ‘yung first game kasi pag nanalo ka sa una, ‘yun yung magdidikta ng series. Happy lang din ako na nakatulong ako sa team.”
