Painters, Texters tipped to win in Friday’s double-header

Games Friday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4:15 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Barako Bull

7 p.m. – Talk n Text vs Kia

Game Saturday (Tubod, Lanao del Norte)

5 p.m. – NLEX vs San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine and Talk n Text are fancied to break out of a heavy four-way logjam at fifth place as they take on struggling Barako Bull and Kia Motors in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer seeks to get going again after a loss to Alaska Milk in a tight battle Wednesday as the Beermen tackle the NLEX Road Warriors in the second leg of the Petron Blaze PBA on Tour in Tubod, Lanao del Norte Saturday.

Currently sharing fifth spot with Globalport and NLEX at 2-2, the Elasto Painters and the Tropang Texters look to step ahead, hoping to live up to high expectations in their games against the Energy (0-3) and the Sorento (1-3), respectively.

The E-Painters and the Energy take the floor at 4:15 p.m. then the Texters and the Sorento at 7 p.m.

Coach Yeng Guiao, a lawmaker representing Pampanga’s first district in Congress, was to leave for Hong Kong Thursday to attend a conference on climate change issues.

He’s confident though that they have made the right preparation for Barako Bull and the team would be in good hands under assistant coach Caloy Garcia.

“We’ve prepared the team to bounce back from a bad loss. We had good practices in the last few days. And coach Caloy knows what to do in my absence,” Guiao told The STAR.

From a blown effort the last time, Talk n Text returned playing heads-up throughout Sunday and dealt Rain or Shine a 99-76 beating.

“We just fixed what went wrong in the Alaska game. We checked what went wrong offensively and defensively, and tried to be consistent in that aspect,” said Talk n Text coach Jong Uichico as they rebounded from their loss to the Aces where they blew away a big 18-point spread.

The Texters built a 15-point margin right in the first half, pulled away further in the third period and made it sure not to bungle their effort by not letting up until the end versus the E-Painters.

Not helping Rain or Shine’s cause was Paul Lee hurting his right shin in a collision with Ryan Reyes in the second quarter. But with the four-day rest, Lee is expected to be back.

Ranidel de Ocampo, Jay Washington, Kevin Alas, Matt Rosser and Harvey Carey took turns to give TnT the needed push versus Rain or Shine.

Curiously, Alas had his breakout in the pros against the Rain or Shine team that selected him at. No 2 overall in the last draft but sent him to Talk n Text in a trade.

Alas sizzled with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes of action.

Rosser, the other top rookie Talk n Text acquired from a separate trade, put in 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal in 39 minutes.

“We all know the capabilities of those rookies, and we’re giving them the minutes to gain confidence,” said Uichico. “Sometimes, they would have that kind of game. The question is consistency.”