The Gin Kings on Friday night steamrollered their way past Rain or Shine, 90-73, for their third straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations that put the crowd-darlings well in the mix of the 10-team field at the Araneta Coliseum.

“Games like these are good signs,” Uichico told reporters shortly after his Kings rose to 4-2 overall and stayed half-a-game off the pace being set by sister team San Miguel and the equally powerful Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters.

“I hope that our chemistry continues to click,” added the multi-titled coach. “We had a lot of trouble with the team’s chemistry aspect in the last conference. I had a hard time giving minutes to everyone because they are so used to it.” Uichico was particularly proud of how his team has been performing the past two weeks, making mention of the many stars in the squad who don’t ask for playing time but are ready to play once called.

“That’s the most important thing that this team needs right now,” he said. “You won’t hear anyone in this team say ‘I should be there playing instead of him’ because one player is getting 35 minutes and other gets 10.” Former two-time Most Valuable Player Willie Miller scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half and Ronald Tubid added 17 as Ginebra took control right from the opening tip and held on the rest of the way.

Mark Caguioa tossed in 11 as he continues to sustain fine form in his latest comeback even as Jay-Jay Helterbrand scattered 12.

The loss was the second straight for the Elasto Painters, who trailed by as many as 21 points before eventually falling to a 2-4 record.

So out of synch was Rain or Shine that the 10 points of Solomon Mercado and Jay-R Reyes were enough to lead the squad in scoring. Former Rookie of the Year Gabe Norwood was shut down and finished with just six.

Air21’s streak, meanwhile, came to a screeching halt earlier in the night after underdog Barako Bull scored an 89-79 victory, the Energy Boosters’ first opposite former head coach Yeng Guiao.

Barako Bull jumped the gun on the Express and established commanding leads right in the first half, totally snuffing the fight out of the listless Air21 crew which came into the game sporting a two-game winning streak and installed as the solid favorite.

It was the first win by Barako Bull over Guiao, the man responsible for the franchise’s three PBA titles who resigned from his post two seasons ago before taking the job to handle the Express.

Mark Isip scored 17 points in the first half and finished with 23, while Sunday Salvacion and Aris Dimaunahan had a combined 28 built around six triples.

“We caught them napping,” said Barako Bull coach Junel Baculi as his Energy Boosters improved to 2-3 overall, now tied with their victims, the idle Meralco Bolts B-Boys and the Powerade Tigers.

“It was gratifying and credit goes to the boys. They played heads-up and that’s the only way for us to get the W’s,” Baculi continued. “With the lineup that we have, we can’t outshoot our opponents but we can out-defend them.” Guiao, on the other hand, couldn’t explain what went wrong.

“It was a bad night,” the firebrand coach told Arabnews on the way to the parking lot. “My players just didn’t have the energy to play at a high level today. Defensively, we never got to figure out how to stop them.” Ronjay Buenafe scored 14 points and Carlo Sharma had 13 for Guiao.