Painters, Bolts fight for survival in PBA Commissioner's Cup

Rain or Shine begins its arduous climb in the 37th PBA Commissioner's Cup on Sunday when it sets out for the first of four must-win games. First in line for the embattled Elasto Painters is the Meralco Bolts, whom they battle in the opener of a scheduled doubleheader at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. So far, Rain or Shine's campaign in the tournament failed to take off properly as the team own the league's worst record at 1-4. The Elasto Painters now need to sweep their last four games in order to get a shot of earning a quarterfinals berth. That unenviable task begins with the Bolts, who are also facing the same situation and are just slightly better than the Elasto Painters at 2-4. Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio said belief is the undying desire of both teams to survive and advance in the playoffs. "Both teams will fight to avert extinction. We want to keep on playing." "But the thing is Rain or Shine really wants to win (Sunday's) game against us and we know how desperate they are. That makes them a dangerous opponent." Both teams are coming off contrasting results in their last outing with Rain or Shine losing two in a row, including a 110-103 defeat at the hands of Petron in a game where Arwind Santos exploded for 34 points. Meralco, on the other hand, stunned crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra, 89-80, as import Earl Barron dumped 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while the deadly backcourt combination of Mark Cardona and Sol Mercado combined for 42 points. "Our defense will be given great emphasis against a high-scoring team like Rain or Shine," said Gregorio. "We had tremendous success against Ginebra because we limited them to only 80 points. The same kind of defensive intensity is required against Rain or Shine." "The greatest motivation for us is to live for another day. We finally found some cohesion against Ginebra, hopefully we can follow that up," Gregorio added. The Kings, meanwhile, try to bounce back from a loss to the Bolts by battling the B-MEG Llamados in an expected explosive match-up in the 6:30 p.m. main game. Ginebra's loss had the Kings sharing second spot with B-MEG, Air21 and Powerade with similar 3-2 (win-loss) slates. Llamados coach Tim Cone said every game truly counts halfway through the elimination round. "B-MEG-Ginebra games are always a huge game because of their followings. But because the teams are tied in the standings, the game takes on an even more significance." "(Jackson) Vroman really is very good, and we're going to have to find answers for the Ginebra guards. I expect it to be a tough, tough, game,” said Cone. — JVP, GMA News