PBA GovCup Finals: Rain or Shine wins without Paul Lee

No Lee means more
ball time for Chan

Save for a few tense moments, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters hacked off a morale-boosting win over the BMeg Llamados in tonight's sleeper of a Game 3.

With star rookie point guard Paul Lee out due to a dislocated shoulder, the "other guys" took the ball and literally ran away with it. Jireh Ibanes, a defensive specialist by trade, buried most of his shots from all over the court in the first quarter. Then came Ryan Arana, Ronjay Buenafe and Beau Belga. TY Tang had his dumb moments but not enough to lose the game as well.

Credit has to go to Coach Yeng Guiao for trusting his boys when they were down early going into the second quarter. The Llamados were even able to stretch the lead a bit, but the fiery mentor didn't bat an eyelash or flinch even-- opting to ride it out when it looked like all the Llamados needed to do was keep trapping Tang midcourt and wait for him to dribble off his foot or pass it to his own bench.

It was close until the 3rd quarter where Jeffrei Chan resurfaced alongside Arana to pretty much take the life out of the hapless Llamados. Not that they were being bullied like Game 1, but the ball reversal for the Elastopainters was just on another level. Guys were knocking down shots, and all the Llamados could do was try and dump the ball inside to Yancy de Ocampo and wait for him to squeeze water off rocks.

Seeing that his guys weren't getting the job done and were out of it offensively, Llamados head coach Tim Cone went to his bench and they kept delivering. Jonas Villanueva, a KKS pick for X-Factor this series, showed why he should be playing a hell of a lot more at PG over streaky Josh Urbiztondo and inconsistent Mark Barroca.

Another huge factor going for the Elastopainters is import Jamelle Cornley's obvious dominance over counterpart Marqus Blakely. What Cornley gives up in terms of athleticism and wingman IQ to Blakely, he makes up for with his "grown ass man" game wherein he just uses his muscles to the hilt and sticks to a simple, low-to-mid post game plan. The Best Import awardee finished with a sterling 26-15 statline while Blakely ended up with only 13 points.

Now that the cat's out of the bag and the Elastopainters have managed to win a championship game without Lee, expect Coach Tim to make the right adjustments and have his guys concentrate more on defense. No more open looks for Ibanes, more traps for Tang and other ball-handlers, plus-- and this writer cannot stress this enough, attack Cornley and get him in foul trouble early.

So far, the Llamados' lack of an inside presence is causing major problems that the Elastopainters are taking full advantage of. Blakely operates better at the wings, which is where Yap and PJ Simon are also found. This puts the Elastopainters' bigs at a very comfortable spot in terms of them not having to over exert themselves inside and just concentrate on positioning for rebounds.

Also, a lot should be said about Blakely being guarded (and kept grounded) by locals Ibanes, Arana and even a Jervy Cruz from time to time. That buys their own import, Cornley, a lot of leeway and keeps him fresher on the floor.

Despite being down 1-2, the Llamados are still the favorites to win the PBA GovCup title. It's not everyday that an MVP frontrunner like Yap will be kept on lock for the full fourth quarter, so expect a big time bounce back game from Coach Tim's wards come Sunday.

As for the Elastopainters? They need to keep the intensity up and spread the floor with their outside sniping. Though the shooting might dip from time to time, they need to have a guy or two (tonight it was Buenafe) who is willing to attack the basket and draw fouls. From the looks of things, Coach Yeng may not be too far off when he said that they could win this series (with or) without Lee. They have the tools, now it's all up to their overall poise and mentality.