Giants face Painters fully charged

MANILA, Philippines – For a team that played two knockout games in a week’s span, the 11-day respite gave Purefoods sufficient time to rest and map out its next strategy against Rain or Shine.

Their short quarterfinals series in the PBA Motolite-Fiesta Cup tied at one game apiece, the Giants and Elasto Painters go at it again for the last time on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum for the right to face defending champion Barangay Ginebra in the Final Four, a best-of-seven series.

Purefoods, seeded No. 6, eked out a thrilling 84-82 win in Game 2 behind two clutch free throws by import Marquin Chandler in the final 1.2 seconds after the third seeded Elasto Painters fought back from as many as 24-point deficit to threaten the Giants.

“What’s important is that we still have the composure to win the game. It’s better that we nearly lost than we almost won,” Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio said.

“We wanted to stay alive and indeed, we’re alive.”

Just a few days back before the thrilling victory, the Giants also faced elimination but bucked the odds to edge the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in double overtime, 126-123, in their knockout wild card game.

The hard-fought match somehow took its toll on the Giants, who struggled in the opener of their quarterfinals series and lost to Rain or Shine, 87-96.

“Those are pretty draining games that we had, but at least we’re happy that we’re able to forge another sudden-death. It’s a good character test for us,” said Gregorio.

But the close to two-week break Purefoods had following the Powerade-Team Pilipinas’ successful title campaign in the eighth South East Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Men’s Championship in Medan, Indonesia should be more than enough for the team to regroup and get back in the groove.

“The only thing here is that James (Yap) and Kerby (Raymundo) will be only practising for a day or two since they are coming off their stint with the national team, although I’m very confident that there are other guys who will step up big and know the repercussions of that particular game.”

One major concern for the Giants however, is the expected return of guard Sol Mercado in Rain or Shine’s roster.

The stocky rookie missed the first two games of the series after suffering a pulled hamstring in the Elasto Painters’ wildcard match against Barako Bull.

“That’s the reason why we really have to play good basketball right from the opening tip. We can’t celebrate the way we did the last time when we had a 24-point lead, we can’t relax, we can’t put our hands down when the game is not yet over,” Gregorio pointed out.