With its best game in the PBA Governors’ Cup series, B-Meg last night was finally able to show Rain or Shine what the form charts were saying before these championship playoffs could start.
Making shots from everywhere and gang-rebounding every time, the Llamados ripped the Elasto Painters, 97-81, to take the best-of-seven series to the distance and stay on course toward a second straight title.
B-Meg broke free in the fourth quarter, nailing a barrage of shots that gave the Llamados leads of as many as 24 points that completely took the fight out of the Painters before close to 14,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
James Yap drilled in 20 points and led B-Meg in scoring for the second straight night, but the story was not how the Llamados connected, but how the Painters struggled.
No man scored more than 14 points for the Painters, who will take the last of their three chances in nailing a first league title tomorrow.
And those who usually contributed big to the Rain or Shine offense were shackled, with Most Improved Player Jeff Chan held to just seven points like Ronjay Buenafe. Ryan Arana was good for just four.
Import Jamelle Cornley struggled big-time, finishing with just 14 markers after being held down to just nine attempts, quite strange for a go-to-guy who was brilliant practically in all of the previous five games.
The win was the second straight for the Llamados, the reigning Commissioner’s Cup champions who also won that title in a Game 7 over powerhouse Talk ‘N Text.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” B-Meg’s Tim Cone said. “All we did was tie the series. If we lose on Sunday, we might as well have lost the game tonight. This game doesn’t really mean anything to either team. The big one is on Sunday.”
A fight almost broke out in the corridor leading to both team’s locker rooms after the game, when Rain or Shine’s Yeng Guiao got into a shouting match with injured B-Meg forward Joe Devance and team manager Alvin Patrimonio.
“Too bad it got a little chirpy there in the end in the hallway,” Cone said. “That’s not what I wanted. I don’t want to go to that level, we need to stay focused.”
Guiao, though, remains as confident as ever.
“Still, we just got stalled, this series is still ours,” he said while admitting that they lost the battle off the boards yet again, 56-33, with the Llamados grabbing a total of 17 offensive boards.
Rain or Shine just couldn’t hit anything from the outside in what could have been the greatest night in its PBA life.
The Painters missed 23 total attempts from beyond the three-point line and muffed eight free throws for the night.
From being 24 points down after a Yap triple, the Painters actually managed to come within seven twice when TY Tang ran the offense, with his triple with 9:50 remaining pegging the score at 63-70.
But Guiao gambled on Gabe Norwood again from there and the Rain or Shine offense was in disarray once more as the Llamados broke away completely to seal the rubber match.
Norwood did score 12 points, but 10 of those came in the final two periods, most of them during garbage time.
