Guiao on ROS' best shot at beating TNT: 'Make this series long'

Against a loaded TNT Tropang 5G side, Rain or Shine knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Elasto Painters head coach Yeng Guiao stressed that their best chance at solving the TNT riddle is by dragging the series out as they go head-to-head in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinals, their third straight meeting in the final four.

"Our best chance is to make this series long. If it becomes a short series talo kami so at least nanalo kami ngayon, we know it’s going to be five games," Guiao said after they dominated TNT in Game 3 for a breakthrough win.

"Kung manalo pa kami, we know it’s going to six games. So we know our best chance is really taking this series to the stretch."

[Our best chance is to make this series long. If it becomes a short series, we'll lose so at least we won today, we know it's going to be five games... If we win again, we know it's going to six games. So we know our best chance is really taking this series to the stretch.]

History hasn’t been kind to Rain or Shine in its semifinal duels with TNT.

In the Season 49 Governors' Cup, TNT steamrolled the Elasto Painters with a dominant 4–1 series win, then replicated the feat in the Commissioner’s Cup the very next conference. On both occasions, the Tropang Giga didn’t just advance as they went all the way to capture the championships. 

And head coach Yeng Guiao is hoping the third time’s the charm for his squad. But he admitted it isn't going to be easy despite TNT losing key players in its grand slam bid. 

"They’re very competitive, they’re very disciplined. And double-barrel shotgun e, Pogoy and Oftana, just their sheer talent. They can take over a game," Guiao added. 

"Ang bigat pa rin nila. Sabi ‘pag wala si RHJ, mas madali silang talunin. Hindi rin, ang hirap nilang talunin. At least naka-2-1 kami."

[They're still so strong. They said when RHJ isn't there, they'll be easier to beat. It's not true, they're so hard to beat. At least we were able to make it 2-1.]

Guiao sees Wednesday’s Game 4 as a potential turning point in Rain or Shine’s quest to finally overcome TNT.

"Susubukan naming i-break ‘yung thread na ‘yun. Wednesday is the big game. We feel if we can break through, kasi ‘pag series namin 4-1 kami nang 4-1 so at least napantay na namin ‘yung level nu’ng dalawang playoffs namin sa kanila," Guiao said

"‘Pag nanalo kami sa Wednesday ibig sabihin nag-improve na kami. So tignan natin kung makakarating sa gano’n."

[We will try to break that thread. Wednesday is the big game. We feel if we can break through, because in the past series it's always 4-1 so at least we were able to equal that level in our two playoff meetings with them... If we win on Wednesday, that means we improved. So let's see if we can get there.]

—JMB, GMA Integrated News