MANILA, Philippines -- Beau Belga has made it clear that he won’t rest until Rain or Shine completes its unfinished business of winning the PBA Philippine Cup title this season.
Although the Elasto Painters rely on go-to-guy Paul Lee during crunch time, coach Yeng Guiao couldn’t be happier when another guy steps up big late in the game.
The heavyweight big man finished with 16 points, including back-to-back layups inside the final three minutes that triggered Rain or Shine’s late-game rally to secure a pulsating 98-95 win over Alaska last Friday. He also pulled down 12 rebounds to earn his first double-double output for the season in a monster performance.
But Belga isn’t done yet.
Two days later, Belga banged in a career-tying 21 points, capped by five three-point shots to power the Elasto Painters to a 100-90 win over Barangay Ginebra and help Rain or Shine secure a semifinals berth with its seventh straight triumph.
“Kailangan pa rin naming maglaro. Mahirap pumasok ng playoffs na galing kami sa talo eh, kasi yun ang laging nire-remind ni coach,” said Belga, whose team could only finished second in the PBA Philippine Cup the past two seasons..
The 6-foot-5 Belga, half of the dreaded “Extra Rice Inc.”, averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his team’s back-to-back victories in three days on the way to earning the Accel-PBA Press Corps.-Player of the Week, besting Jay Washington of Talk ‘N Text.
Belga explained that the Elasto Painters wouldn’t want to go through the longer route of playing in the quarterfinals with just a twice-to-beat incentive.
“Siyempre, after the end of the elims, kailangan positive note, para yung kumpiyansa namin, dala-dala na sa playoffs. Saka dun kami sa easy way (automatic semis),” he added.
Rain or Shine is taking two days off, before returning to practice on Wednesday in preparation for the best-of-seven semifinals where the Elasto Painters await the result of the quarterfinals.