RAIN or Shine's youth-laden crew has passed a tough test of character by putting together its Game 1 victory in the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinal series despite Magnolia's long-range bombing and tremendous amount of pressure in the endgame.
Now the challenge for coach Yeng Guiao's charges is to continue doing so against their battle-tested opponents.
"(The team's) Character is being tested (in this series) and at least for now we passed the test," Guiao said after the Elasto Painters kept their poise and overturned a nine-point deficit in the last five 5:16 to secure a hard-earned 109-105 opening win in the best-of-five contest.
More blue-collar effort is needed as the Elasto Painters try to repeat in Game 2 in a challenging road gig at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex in Laguna Friday.
One major aspect Guiao and Co. need to address in the 5 p.m. tiff is Magnolia's bombs from afar. In the series opener, the Hotshots made six of their 12 attempts from the extended four-point line led by Jerrick Ahanmisi (3-of-4) for an astounding 50 percent marksmanship.
"Iyun ang ng almost pumatay sa amin (Game 1)," noted Guiao.
"Part of the game plan siguro is just to be able to lessen their efficiency. Mataas masyado 'yung 50-percent shooting from four. Sabi ko nga fantastic masyado 'yun eh. So we'll try to lessen that because we know they'll take a lot more four point shots not just three-point shots and parang specialty na ni Ahanmisi iyun. So we have to pay special attention to that."
Additionally, there's an unknown variable that the ROS bunch of Aaron Fuller, Jhonard Clarito, Adrian Nocum, Andrei Caracut, Caelan Tiongson and Beau Belga will tackle in Game 2 - Magnolia is fielding a new import in Jabari Carl Bird.
A former Boston Celtics player who had his most recent tour of duty in the Indonesian league, Bird takes over from Rayvonte Rice, who produced a mediocre 16 points, two rebounds and one assist in his 34-minute duty last Wednesday after logging five markers and seven boards in an 89-82 loss to Converge at the close of the eliminations.
Bird, who is listed at 6-foot-6, will be officially measured a few hours before his planned PBA debut and link up with Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Calvin Abueva and Aris Dionisio. He will be the fourth import in the conference to suit up for Magnolia, which initially paraded Glenn Robinson III then replaced him with Shabazz Muhammad before bringing in Rice with Muhammad getting injured. (OL)
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