They were only delayed but not denied just yet, and that’s exactly why Coach Yeng Guiao is hardly bothered, even as Rain or Shine failed to maximize its win-once incentive against Meralco in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.
The Elasto Painters on Saturday suffered a 96-79 romp to the Bolts, which foiled their bid to advance to the semis outright, but the champion mentor remained calm and collected as the series has not in any way ended whatsoever.
After all, the second-seeded team by eliminations’ end is still armed with a twice-to-beat edge, and the opposition has only accomplished half of the job.
“That’s the value of getting a twice-to-beat advantage. Now, we have to stretch that advantage and make it work for us on Monday,” Guiao told reporters moments after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Rain or Shine is actually no stranger to overcoming adversities in the playoffs’ opening round, having done as much twice during Season 49.
A quick look-back would remind that the run-and-gun crew lost Game 1 of its best-of-3 encounter versus Converge in the Commissioner’s Cup, but would go on to take the next two games and complete the reverse sweep.
They’d then become the comeback kids of the Philippine Cup the next conference as they ousted the twice-to-beat NLEX for a fourth straight semis.
(C) PBA Images
Now it’s gut check time once again for RoS, but Guiao expressed confidence in their chances of coming out triumphant in Monday’s do-or-die.
“I feel pretty good that we can figure it out and fix our problems in the first game. I think we just need to lean back on our accomplishments and parang may reason naman kung bakit kami nagka-twice-to-beat,” he said.
Guiao liked the fight his men showed from the start, so lackadaisical, in which they allowed Meralco to charge to a 35-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Their foes did lead by as many as 34, but the Elasto Painters refused to throw in the towel, chopping the gap to as slim as 12 during the fourth before Chris Newsome and Jansen Rios applied the finishing touches for the Bolts.
“We just gave up too big of a lead in the first quarter,” he lamented. “It took a little while before we were able to get the rhythm of the game.
“Medyo second half na, malaki na masyado yung lamang. But what was important was we did not give up.”
And that second-half surge is what makes him and the squad optimistic in their rematch, as they now have an idea of which tweaks they make to put up a winning game plan against a team they had beaten in the eliminations.
“We wanted to make the most out of the situation. Also, we used a lot of the minutes in the second half, especially, just to be able to learn what adjustments we need to make for the Monday game,” said Guiao.
#WATCH: WE JUST GAVE UP TOO BIG OF A LEAD
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao says they will build on their second-half surge against Meralco heading into their do-or-die #PBA50 game on Monday 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/AZLahFsnx1
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times pic.twitter.com/xEYooVu2RN
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) December 27, 2025
