ANTIPOLO — Some of its key players remain in sick bay, yet Rain or Shine did solidly in the first month of their PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup campaign.
Head coach Yeng Guiao himself said so, feeling pleased after the Elasto Painters won four of their first five games despite missing Stanley Pringle and Caelan Tiongson due to injuries.
“Four and one is good for us at this point, even if we’re missing some of our key players,” the champion bench tactician offered on the heels of their 106-91 character-testing victory over Terrafirma at the Ynares Center here, Friday.
Both Pringle and Tiongson got reduced to spectators one after the other. The former BPC is still nursing a minor knee soreness, which he sustained in their 111-93 loss to San Miguel last October 19 — the only one so far.
It was actually the 38-year-old guard’s debut with the franchise as well since signing with RoS as an unrestricted free agent during the offseason.
The well-travelled sophomore, on the other hand, has been out for two games since last seeing action in their 110-100 bounce-back win against the skidding Blackwater last October 24 no thanks to a hamstring issue.
The team has set a timetable for the two, however. They could be back during the course of their next two games against Phoenix and NLEX, Guiao said.
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“Si Stanley siguro, baka pwedeng sundutin namin the next game, Experiment namin,” he said of his former Gilas Pilipinas player.
“Si Caelan, we’re trying to get him ready for the NLEX game kasi ‘yung next game namin is Phoenix, so we’ll try to get him ready for the NLEX game.”
But even with an incomplete lineup, the Elasto Painters are doing just fine, having stretched their winning streak to three after beating the Dyip.
And that’s thanks to the remaining players gamely stepping up to the plate — particularly Santi Santillan, who’s been starring over the last two matches.
After finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds in their dramatic, come-from-behind win (112-111) over Titan Ultra the last time out, the La Salle product fired 26 points in six triples to spearhead the strong finish versus Terrafirma.
“Oo, kasi konti na lang bigs eh,” offered Santillan when asked if there’s a conscious effort on his part to deliver, given their situation.
“Ako na lang tsaka sina Gabe; minsan, si Keith. Kailangang mag-step up talaga para sa amin.”
Thus, the optimism of Guiao that they can still find their next level approaching the second half of their elimination round once they are complete and healthy.
“May potensyal pa na mag-improve,” the 66-year-old Kampampangan said. “We’re looking at November, may tatlong laro kami sa November, we’ll see if we can make 2-1 in November.
“Again, that would be good for us. Ganun namin hinahati-hati ‘yung goals namin, into bite-sized kumbaga.”
#WATCH: “YUNG SECOND HALF NG SCHEDULE NAMIN ANG MAS MABIGAT”
Yeng Guiao says the remaining games of Rain or Shine will be the acid tests for the Elasto Painters 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/tNkKqSKtk4
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times #PBA50 pic.twitter.com/Y5NjZ6eibs
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) October 31, 2025
