PBA: Rain or Shine Elasto Painters find their rhythm, hold off Meralco Bolts comeback try 

(Updated 8:04pm) The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters struck down the Meralco Bolts, 96-79, and earned their second win in the 2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup on Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters improved to 2-3 in the standings, tying the Air21 Express, Barangay Ginebra and the Alaska Aces, while Meralco fell to .500 at 3-3.

Rain or Shine import Alex McLean scored 23 points and 16 rebounds in the win, while Jeff Chan added 21 points and four rebounds. Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood tallied 16 and 13 points, respectively, and combined for seven assists.

"The days we plays defense, we win games, so this is one of those rare games where we played defense," deadpanned coach Yeng Guiao, who added that today's win was merely "temporary relief" in this conference.

"We're just really starting to get our rhythm going, I hope it's not too late. We still consider ourselves in a hole and struggling, so we need to win a couple of games to get us out," he said.

Among the options that could aid in the climbing out of that hole is replacing McLean, which Guiao did not deny. "We will talk about McLean's status tomorrow," he said. "We have our options open, but our next game is on Monday so we need to decide tomorrow in practice what we want to do.

"He played good today but the question is can he play consistently and can he take us to the playoffs?" elaborated Guiao. For now, McLean is expected to attend practice tomorrow while his replacement, Wayne Chism, is ready to fly into the country.

"But I'm still not a hundred percent [decided]. The coaching staff and management will have to give their input before we make the final decision," finished Guiao.

The Philippine Cup finalists RoS started flat, unable to score around the rim while the Bolts beat them in transition. But the Elasto Painters turned a corner midway, and enjoyed a stretch of torrid shooting from mid-range. Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, Jervy Cruz and Alex McLean shot their way to an 18-4 run to close the quarter, leading 23-17.

The Bolts scored the bulk of their points inside during the second, getting layups and put-backs to tie the game up at 29-29. However, Rain or Shine caught a break when Paul Lee and Chan drew fouls off a three-point attempts, netting six free points as coach Yeng Guiao's team pulled away in the last five minutes, and led 44-33 at the half.
 

Meralco looked like they would turn things around in the third, as Gary David made a couple of three's to start the quarter, but a rally did not materialize. Instead, Rain or Shine created any shot they wanted and began to pull away. Paul Lee and McLean were dialed in and scored all but seven of their points in the frame, to lead by as much as 16 markers, before settling for a 72-60 margin heading into the fourth.

During an all-Filipino stretch to start the fourth quarter, Jared Dillinger and Cliff Hodge clawed their way back into contention with quick penetrating moves. While Rain or Shine stayed alive and scored on the occasional defensive breakdown, Dillinger and Hodge terrorized the lane for 10 of Meralco's first 15 points as they trailed, 79-75.

But Rain or Shine shored up their defense and smothered a potential comeback. Meralco scored only twice more while the Elasto Painters out-hustled them, leading 87-79 on a Chan put-back with around two minutes left. Rain or Shine ended the game on a 17-4 run to slam the door on the Bolts.

Rain or Shine shot 35-of-84 (41.7 percent) in the game, while Meralco went 30-of-78 (38.5 percent) from the field. The Bolts led 22-15 in turnover points off an 11-15 disparity in turnovers.

Gary David headlined Meralco with 20 points and five rebounds. Jared Dillinger had 14 points, while Cliff Hodge added 12 points and nine rebounds. Brian Butch, after a 40-point, 31-rebound performance against Air21 on Sunday, had just 11 points and 13 rebounds on a 2-of-7 outing from the floor. Butch too is the subject of replacement rumors, and this game did him no favors in his bid to retain his spot in the PBA. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Rain or Shine 96 -  McLean 23, Chan 21, Lee 16, Norwood 13, Belga 7, Cruz 6, Araña 2, Almazan 2, Tiu 2, Ibanes 2, Rodriguez 2, Tang 0, Nuyles 0, Teng 0

Meralco 79 - David 20, Dillinger 14, Hodge 12, Butch 11, Hugnatan 7, Artadi 4, Ildefonso 2, Sena 2, Guevarra 2, Wilson 2, Mandani 2, Al-Hussaini 1, Caram 0, Salvacion 0

Quarter scoring: 23-17, 44-33, 72-60, 96-79