E-Painters' Hustle and Flow

Yeng Guiao has his team ready 

Despite last night's 90-88 setback to the Petron Blaze Boosters, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters need only to win two of their remaining four semifinal assignments to make a run at the PBA Governor's Cup Finals. That, plus they sure as hell made a valiant comeback from 23 points down and were maybe three to four missed free throws from stealing the game.

Though they started the game rather slugglishly while the Boosters were shooting the lights off the gym, the E-Painters never really looked out of it. The team kept battling, forcing turnovers and making it difficult for the Boosters to score inside specially in the third and fourth quarters.

For all the stars on the Boosters' roster, the E-Painters exposed their one glaring weakness: not having a legit low post player. Beau Belga, under sized power forward Jhervy Cruz and import Jamelle Cornley were having a field day against the Boosters tall yet misplaced wings Jay Washington, Arwind Santos and new import Marcus Faison.

Dorian Pena was holding the fort rebounding-wise, but as the game went longer he started getting called for 50-50 fouls that helped the E-Painters climb back. It should also be noted that the Boosters were doing okay, or at the very least stayed afloat when Denok Miranda called the shots at PG. The offense was stagnant, but they weren't surrendering points on the other end. When Alex Cabagnot subbed back in with Joseph Yeo, the E-Painters made another run to further trim the lead down to two. That's what we've been saying about Cabagnot-- he's a great PG on offense, passable on defense (one on one and team).

Overall, once the E-Painters found themselves in the position to win, guys started playing to their true selves. Jeff Chan was moving without the ball looking for a kick-out pass, ready to shoot the three. Belga was setting sturdy screens and not clogging the perimeter. Cornley was doing his usual iso thing on the wings. Norwood was working off Cornley. Lee was orchestrating.

If you really want to nitpick, then the blame should be placed on Lee's shoulders. The rookie PG who has emerged as the face of the Yeng Guiao-era E-Painters because of his endless swag took two or three "heat check/ hero ball" three pointers when they were making a run. Had those shots gone in (two of which almost did before rattling out), then we'd be in praise of the bald-headed one, but it didn't, so maybe he should've created more rather than calling his own number.

Norwood was okay, he played stellar defense in the end game (sigh, he should always play like that) and forced some nice turnovers. The free throws? Blame that on fatigue and the pressure of trying to impress your family and friends on live television. We're only human, and Norwood has always been a complimentary role player to this writer rather than a franchise star-- still a very good one but not of the All Star caliber that people mistake him for.

From a team standpoint, the E-Painters look more and more like they know their strengths and where each player wants to have the basketball. Roles have been well-defined, they have Chan as the designated shooter, iso-guys like Lee, Cornley and Ronjay Buenafe, defensive specialists Jireh Ybanes and Ryan Arana, traditional PG in TY Tang, wing Norwood, and serviceable bigs Belga, Cruz, JR Quinahan and Ronnie Matias.

They're a tough, physical team that likes to run and clog the paint. Offense is generated mostly on isolation sets called for just about anyone who wants to shoot regardless of the situation (a Yeng Guiao philosophy since his Sunkist and Red Bull coaching years). The thing that's nice about them is that they can play to any style: not only do they have the guys who can run but they also have guys who can dish out pain and make fouling an artform.

Another factor that could be credited for the E-Painters success is the little to no movement as far as personnel is concerned. These guys have been together the longest, with other teams often tinkering with their star core line-ups. The E-Painters? The biggest addition was Lee from the PBA draft, the rest of the guys were either with the team beforehand or Guiao additions (most if not all of which are role players).

This team was built the old-fashioned way and it's nice to see that they're starting to gain some degree of success against quality opponents and actually compete for 48 minutes.