Breakthrough!

First Finals appearance in 6 years

The Rain or Shine Elastopainters have finally broken through the glass ceiling and reached the PBA Finals for the first time in the franchise's six years in the PBA. This, after repeatedly failing in advancing early in the semifinals and facing injuries to key players Jeffrei Chan and super rookie Paul Lee.

With tonight's 92-82 victory over the BMeg Llamados, the Elastopainters have achieved what head coach Yeng Guiao was brought in to do: to barge into the Finals despite not having established PBA superstars in the fold and overcoming superpowers such as the San Miguel and MVP teams. Guiao's appointment instantly made the Elastopainters a dangerous squad, with guys being brought in to play specific roles that were to benefit the overall team game. Hot shot Sol Mercado was sent to Meralco in order to balance out the roster while guys like Beau Belga, JayR Quinahan and Ronjay Buenafe were brought in to make the transition from pretty boy Coach Caloy Garcia to Coach Yeng easier and faster.


While Llamados' fans argue that their team suffered an off night at the worst possible time, a quick look at the box score suggests that the Elastopainters were playing even worse. None more so than Lee who had an abysmal eight points all on free throws and no field goal to speak of. Ditto with Belga and Quinahan who were a combined 5/18.

Fortunately, the Elastopainters had something that the Llamados didn't-- a coach who has forever empowered his team to the point that everyone feels confident and natural in taking big shots whenever it is presented to them. Save for the steady sniping of Chan who made both James Yap (bad back) and PJ Simon look like amateurs from beyond the arc, the Elastopainters were making baskets from almost everywhere by every one.

Jervy Cruz was beasting down low as though he was wearing UST on his chest, Jireh Ybanes was keeping perimeter defenders honest while holding his own against the Llamados superstar guards in check, Ryan Arana was his usual pesky self and import Jamelle Cornley was doing all the little and big things that you'd want from a Best Import frontrunner.

It should also be noted that though Marc Pingris was able to pull in his usual 8 points and 11 boards, he was getting banged around the shaded lane by the Extra Rice Inc. and was unable to take advantage of his lateral quickness which forced Coach Tim Cone to look elsewhere (that being Jerwin Gaco).

Going into the Finals, no matter which among the Llamados or Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings they face, the Elastopainters will surely be cast in the underdog role. The Llamados' enjoy a certain height advantage which could spell doom for the Elastopainters' unathletic, horizontally-challenged frontline while the better match-up would be versus the Gin Kings whose bigs are just around the 6"5-6 range.

For the Elastopainters to continue their romp to their first ever PBA title, they need to continue playing as a team and with that certain brand of unpredictability that has become a staple of any Coach Yeng Guaio team. Once they try playing Cornley or Lee a little too much one-on-one, everything falls apart and Chan is the one who gets hurt the most because he is reduced to a spot up shooter rather than a Reggie Miller/ Ray Allen-type who moves without the basketball.