Painters target clean sweep versus Wizards

Rain or Shine guns for a sweep of the PBL Heroes Cup crown today when it faces Magnolia for the third time at the San Andres Gym.

The Elasto Painters, who won the first two games of their best-of-five title showdown, are expected to go all out to complete their domination of the Wizards and give coach Caloy Garcia and owners Raymond Yu and Terry Que another title sweep.

Drawing inspired performances from Jun Jun Cabatu, Eugene Tan and Marvin Ortiguerra, Rain or Shine took the series’ opener, 70-68, then followed it up with another thrilling 75-73 win in Game 2.

And with momentum on its side, Rain or Shine is on its way to adding another romp to its growing list of title runs.

They won their first five titles via sweep, and Garcia and the rest of the squad are hoping to add another one.

"I already told the boys to give their best effort to finish the series," said Garcia, himself eyeing a back-to-back championship.

"Siyempre iba ang feeling mo kapag na-sweep mo ang isang title series. Kaya we will work hard and play passionately to win the series," added Garcia, now on his fourth straight finals appearance.

A win by Rain or Shine will give Yu and Que their seventh title in 12 times they figured in the finals. The Well-Best franchise joined the league in 1996.

"We hope to win it through a sweep because Magnolia would be tough team to beat if it were to come back," said Yu and Que.

But Magnolia coach Koy Banal vows to stop the Elasto Painters.

"There’s still hope and I’m confident my players will do the job," said Banal.

But for the Wizards to bounce back, they have to improve their outside shooting and come up with a solid defensive game.

Kelly Williams and Arwind Santos are dishing out superb games but the duo has failed to muster enough support from the others, among them Jeff Chan, Kim Valenzuela, Jason Misolas and RJ Rizada.