The only ball club that has a glimpse of an outright championship slot against Talk ‘N Text – Rain or Shine — blew it.

Import Arizona Reid was a huge flop in a game Rain or Shine was heavily relying on him to deliver, and the Elasto Painters’ hopes of clinching their first-ever Finals berth in franchise history drifted far away from target in a 95-89 frustrating defeat to Alaska Wednesday night in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Averaging 29 points and 15 rebounds throughout the season-ending conference, Reid slumped big time with an atrocious shooting from the floor (11-of-30), pulling with his poor effort Rain or Shine’s aspirations to end a Finals’ appearance drought since entering the league five years ago.

Defense by Jason Forte on Reid was the key to it all, and the Aces, in clinching their eighth win in 13 games, kept alive their slim chances of making a return stint to the championships after winning the Fiesta Conference last season.

But behind the victory, Alaska coach Tim Cone felt a huge setback.

“Horrible! Horrible! Horrible!” said Cone after the game. “We should have won the game by 16, 18 or 20 points. I feel like we lost the basketball game. We had an opportunity to run up the score but we gave up eight straight points.” Not only did Cone slam the way how his players ended the match, he likewise unleashed an attack over why a Finals slot, an achievement by itself, should be decided by the quotient system.

“I’m not a believer at the idea that championship berths are decided by quotients,” Cone said. “I don’t even remember this happening in the PBA in my 22 years. And that’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be decided by the quotients.” Rain or Shine came into the crucial contest aiming to win its last two games to make it to the Finals outright. But the Painters were outplayed in every department, and Forte whipped Reid in the battle between the leading contenders for the Best Import award.

Why was it that Cone was disappointed with his six-point victory? The early quotient calculations would eliminate Aces if Ginebra wins Friday against Rain or Shine. In fact, there’s only one scenario for Alaska to meet Talk ‘N Text in the Finals, and that is, ironically, for the Painters to beat the Kings regardless of the margin.

Petron, like Alaska, also pumped life into its Finals hopes.

Sunday Salvacion hit a crucial three-point shot with 1:14 left to play, Arwind Santos produced 22 points and 13 rebounds and Anthony Grundy scattered 29 points and Petron avoided dropping out of the championship race, outlasting sister team B-Meg, 97-92.

Salvacion was left wide open at the left quarter-court and capitalized on the situation, knocking in the big three as the Boosters reclaimed the lead at 92-90, before Santos came through with a clean rejection against James Yap at the other end.

The loose ball was recovered by Danny Ildefonso, who was fouled and converted both charities, before Joe Devance missed his own three-point shot in the next possession. Santos got fouled and split his charities, 95-90, with 24 seconds to go.

The 18-time champion franchise now needs to beat early Finalist Talk ‘N Text tomorrow and a lot of prayers for it to advance into the deepest stage of the tournament, wishing that sister team Ginebra also wins to create a three-way tie at No. 2. The Boosters will then move on to the championships with the best quotient.

Ginebra, on the other hand, will be hoping that it beats Rain or Shine and aspire for a TNT victory against the Boosters for it to advance to the championships.

Yap topscored for the Llamados with 23 points while Devance added 18.

What came as a surprise to all was the way the Llamados treated the game as if something big was at stake.

B-Meg, eliminated for the Finals race days ago, refused to allow its sister team to simply walk away with a victory. The Llamados fought the Boosters tight, and even had the chance to steal the game when Devance scored on an undergoal stab, 90-89, with 1:33 left.

But the Llamados’ defense got disorganized after a series of picks that left Salvacion open, and the Petron forward’s shot ignited an 8-2 closing run.