Hong Kong Eastern good, but Bay Area the 'bigger problem', says Rain or Shine's Guiao

MANILA, Philippines -- Rain or Shine Elasto Painters head coach Yeng Guiao emphasized that he believes the Bay Area Dragons were a “much bigger” problem back then that the current PBA guest team Hong Kong Eastern, which they defeated Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday, Rain or Shine dealt Eastern their first loss in the PBA by way of a 99-81 demolition at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

Hong Kong dropped to 2-1, while the Elasto Painters, spearheaded by debuting import Deon Thompson, rose to 1-1.

After the game, Guiao stressed just how great the disbanded Bay Area squad was, who went to the finals of the PBA Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup.

“Palagay ko mas malalim ang bench ng Bay Area. Mas malaki ang import nila, yung [Andrew] Nicholson, tapos meron silang pamalit na import na maliit na gwardya [Myles Powell] na unstoppable din, unguardable din,” he told reporters.

The Dragons, during that season, blasted Rain or Shine in the quarterfinals to eliminate them in the import-laden conference.

“Mas malaki talaga ang problema mo doon sa Bay Area. At least ito, although nanalo na sila ng dalawa, alam mo na pagka-kalaban mo sila, medyo mas parehas yung laban,” he added.

Led by Nicholson and Powell, along with Hayden Blankley, Kobey Lam, Duncan Reid and 7-foot-5 center Liu Chuanxing, Bay Area dominated the eliminations and went to the finals.

However, they were defeated by Barangay Ginebra in seven games.

Despite this, the veteran mentor stressed that the Hong Kong squad is not to be taken lightly.

“Pero malakas pa rin sila kasi naka-2-0 agad sila, good start agad sila.”

On Wednesday, Eastern missed the services of guard Glen Yang, who is a key cog of the past two games.

Yang averaged 16.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds a game thus far in two contests.
Guiao acknowledged that Yang’s absence was a huge boost for Rain or Shine.

“Malaking bagay na wala yung primary guard nila, si Glen Yang. Swerte rin kami na hindi siya nakapaglaro. Malaking bagay na… siguro yung mga gwardya nila, hindi rin eksperiyensyado katulad ni Glen Yang,” he said.

“Tapos, medyo napagod din siguro si [import] Cameron Clark. Ang ganda nung first three quarters niya, pero fourth quarter, medyo napagod na rin siya,” he added.

“Part din yun ng gusto naming mangyari na alam namin, yung burden ng offense nasa kaniya so kailangan lang pahirapan mo nang pahirapan baka pagdating ng fourth, napagod nga. Bumaba yung percentage. Yun ang nangyari.”

Rain or Shine will try to keep things rolling as they face the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions San Miguel Beermen next Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.