PBA GovCup Finals: RoS a win away

RoS: Winning behind "balut" chemistry

Beat.

Just, plain, good old-fashioned beat.

That's how the BMeg Llamados are, now down 1-3 after losing a 17-point first quarter lead and losing all sense of composure best embodied by newly-minted Defensive Player of the Year Marc Pingris' silly headbutt on Rain or Shine Elastopainters' kiti-kiti guard Ryan Arana.

When the guy who has pretty much embodied your team's hunger, tenacity and fight blows off his top against a smaller defender-- then you know that you're on a bad spot. Llamados' head coach Tim Cone has gone public with the Elastopainters' physicality, but perhaps his team should take a good look at themselves first if they want to extend the series in their favor.

The Elastopainters are without star rookie Paul Lee, validated by his Rookie of the Year and 2nd Mythical Team selection. But they have managed to win two in a row now, behind a stellar and steady rotation that doesn't flinch at pressure-packed situations. They all share the pressure of winning their team's first ever title in their maiden Finals appearance. They have been empowered by Coach Yeng Guiao time and again hit or miss. They're not doing anything new, there haven't been any major adjustments as far as their game plan is concerned-- and yet, the Llamados seem to be confused on what to do defensively.

This isn't the Elastopainters' being overly physical, it's the Llamados' failure to raise their level of play to match their opponents on the hard court. They're supposed to be the much experienced and loaded team with superstars. They have a 2x Most Valuable Player and a multi-titled head coached on the bench. They have names who are some of the best at their positions.

So what gives?

After opting to sit stars James Yap and PJ Simon in Game 3, everyone with half a brain expected something big out of the Llamados' duo. They delivered with 25 and 14 respectively, so did import Marqus Blakely and streaky Josh Urbiztondo. Normally, this would be a recipe for an instant W for the Llamados-- not tonight.

The Elastopainters' scratched and clawed, found gold again in their deep pockets-- this time with a "DLSU vintage" performance from little-used point guard TY Tang who kept drilling his patented "bring the ball down to the free throw line and pull up" jumpers over, and over, and over...

To make matters worse, Gabe Norwood suddenly found his rhythm offensively and put up 18 points alongside Ronjay Buenafe's 13. This, with the PBA's 2nd Mythical Team member Jeffrei Chan suffering an off-night and finishing with a modest 7 points.

Can the Llamados still turn it around?

Sure. It will be hard and will need them to concentrate more defensively but if there's any team that can pull it off then it's a Coach Tim Cone, James Yap-led one. Problem is, the way the Elastopainters' are playing right now-- all off one another, it's hard to imagine them losing two straight games. Maybe Game 5, but it would be a bit of a stretch to say they'd lose Game 6.