Rain or Shine still has a chance to turn the PBA semis opener around until TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson unleashed the shot that made the difference.
There was one statistic that stood out for Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao in the Elasto Painters' 90-81 setback to TNT in Game 1 of their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup semifinal showdown on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
Guiao pointed to turnovers as the main culprit.
“I think the biggest factor 'yung masyado kaming maraming turnovers. We had 22 turnovers, 22 assists. So 1:1 'yung ratio namin sa assists to turnovers,” Guiao said after the match.
“It’s just too big to give up to a team like TNT. If you’re turning the ball over that many times, that means you’re giving up too many easy points, mga cheap baskets.
Rain or Shine played catch up in the second half and still had a shpt at tilting the match to its favor when it was just down by seven. 79-86, with 3:33 more to go.
Until Rondae Hollis-Jefferson unleashed a haymaker in the form of a four-pointer to pad the lead to 90-79 at the 1:47 mark.
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Rain or Shine just did not have the legs to recover from that big of a blow.
“Tingin ko, we were still in the game, in the endgame, except noong pumasok 'yung four-point shot ni RHJ. That kind of broke our back. But panlaban pa rin kung hindi sana pumasok 'yun,” Guiao said.
Still, the fiery mentor was pleased with how his wards fared defensively against Hollis-Jefferson and the Tropang Giga.
Hollis-Jefferson nearly had a triple-double outing with his 26-point, 13-rebound, nine-assist tally. But the former Best Import shot a woeful 10-for-25 for a 40 percent clip and also turned the ball over five times.
As a team, TNT shot 33-of-97 overall from the field or 34 percent.
“I still feel good about the series. Actually, maganda ang depensa namin. Low percentage sila (Tropang Giga), low efficiency. I think they only shot 40 [sic] percent for their field goal percentage,” said Guiao.
“So, that’s really good defense. The problem was we’re turning the ball over so many times, so 'yung na-gain namin sa depensa, nababawi nila sa mga turnovers namin," he added.
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Guiao will try to address Rain or Shine's faults as the Elasto Painters look to even the best-of-seven series in Game 2 on Friday, Oct. 11, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Match unfurls at 5 p.m.