Chan’s scoring spree lifts Rain or Shine past Powerade

Somehow, you just knew this series was headed for a seventh game.

Playing true to form, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters drubbed the Powerade Tigers, 112-98, to force a Game 7 in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series. The Elasto Painters, behind the hot shooting of Jeff Chan, used a big 12-0 at the start of the fourth period to break the game wide open and coast to victory.

The result followed a pattern that has held since the start of the series. Powerade has won all its games by close margins, always coming up with the big plays at end game, while Rain or Shine has clinched its three wins by double-digit leads.

For much of the third period, it looked like this would be another down-the-wire game as the lead swung back and forth. From the 7:37 mark, when JV Casio's two free throws gave Powerade a 63-62 lead, up to the 3:12 mark, when Ronnie Matias' three-point play conversion restored the lead to RoS at 71-69, there were eight consecutive lead changes.

But as it turned out, Matias' and 1 play would be the last lead change of the game as Chan scored his team's next 15 points during a run spanning the third and fourth periods. When the lefty shooter was finally done, Rain or Shine was up by 10, 86-76. Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood took their cue from Chan and chipped in a triple each as the lead ballooned to 16, 92-76, with only 7:52 left. The Tigers didn't score in the fourth period until around the 7:30 mark, and by then the damage had been done.

By game's end, Chan had 26 points, including five triples, Paul Lee had 15 and 7 assists, and the series was headed for a Game 7 on Wednesday.

After scoring "only" 28 points in Powerade's Game 5 win, Gary David breached the 30-point mark once again as he and Marcio Lassiter both scored 30 points each. But both players took over half of Powerade's 84 shots, and both played at least 41 minutes. Game 5 hero JV Casio, who scored 25 points in that 110-108 win, was limited to only seven points on six shots.

In the end, it all boiled down to David and Lassiter trying to do too much and the Powerade bench unable to step up. RoS was content making the two do all the work on offense while also making them work hard on defense. It also helped that the E-Painters' bench came through this time.

"Our energy level was at a higher level than the last time," Yeng Guiao said. "We guarded their three guards well. We need to put pressure and sustain the pressure all the way. That's the key."

Guiao also praised his bench, which outscored Powerade's bench 62-6. Lee had 15, while unsung heroes Ronnie Matias and Ronjay Buenafe had 14 and 11, respectively. As a team, no one among the E-Painters played more than 29 minutes as Guiao shuffled his rotation efficiently and constantly kept someone glued to David.

"Everybody and anybody can score," Guiao said. "Going into Wednesday's game we'll be fresher than they are. Tatlo lang naglalaro sa kabila, eh. If we can sustain the pressure on those guys and move the ball as well as we did today, maganda-ganda iyong prospect. Mauubos din iyong shooting (of Powerade's trio). Kailangan lang talaga sustained iyong pressure.

"Gary, Lassiter and Casio are playing extended minutes and we're putting the pressure on them offensively and defensively, and hope at some point they get tired. Ganoon lang ka-simple iyon. On our side, we can run because we are playing a lot less minutes than they are."

Powerade got practically nothing from its second unit. Will Antonio chipped in five points, while Rudy Lingganay, who had played well in the eliminations and the early part of the playoffs but who has seen his playing time diminish in the last few games, contributed a single free throw. That was the extent of the bench scoring of Powerade as Rommel Adducul was scoreless 18 largely ineffective minutes while Celino Cruz and Josh Vanlandingham also failed to score.

Notes:

- Each game of this series has produced at least one Alex Crisano highlight. In Game 3 he pulled his shorts down to protest a foul called on him, while in Game 5 he knelt down and raised three fingers upwards after hitting a triple. Last night, though, was an inadvertent highlight. Lee was at the line taking two free throws, except that Crisano thought he was taking three free throws since Lee was fouled from the corner. But the referee ruled that Lee had stepped on the three-point line and thus awarded the shifty guard only two charities. Lee missed the second, and the ball bounced to Crisano. Possession was now live, but Crisano thought Lee had one more free throw to take, so he tossed the ball back to Lee, who quickly sprinted to the basket for an unmolested lay-up.

- Rain or Shine won the battle of the offensive boards, 26-17, and had more assists, 31-21.

E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com.