ROS finishes off Alaska, seals title clash with San Mig

MANILA: Rain or Shine, according to coach Yeng Guiao, also has a piece of history to accomplish.
Getting more than what they expected against a severely short-handed enemy, the Elasto Painters on Saturday night got the goods from Paul Lee in the stretch for a 97-94 Game 5 win over Alaska for the right to play San Mig Coffee in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
The rubber match of their series had the same physical, intense flavor, with Lee rescuing the Elasto Painters with their final four points inside the last 30.6 to end the Aces’ season and arrange a title shot against the Mixers in another best-of-five series starting Tuesday night.
That the Painters are the last ones standing in the way of San Mig’s bid for just the league’s first Grand Slam is not the kind of history that Guiao was talking about.
He said that their piece of history lies in whether or not they win their championship in this, their fourth Finals appearance in the last seven conferences and second this season after also losing to San Mig in the Philippine Cup championship.
“We’re not going to try to stop the history of San Mig, we just want to make our own history,” Guiao said after also getting 35 points from import Arizona Reid and closing out the series, 3-2, with their second straight win.
“Maybe it’s our destiny (to be in the Finals against the Mixers),” Guiao added. “Hindi naman namin kasalanan (it’s not our fault that some of their players failed to suit up for the rubber match because of injuries).”
Alaska played without three key elements of its core — Sonny Thoss, Gabby Espinas and JV Casio — but fought it out till the bitter end led by Henry Walker, who figured in some tense moments with the Painters in the last two games but showed his true professional side immediately after the game.
Walker and Guiao were in a warm embrace while whispering to each other’s ears at midcourt immediately after the game, something rarely seen from the firebrand Rain or Shine coach and something that came totally unexpected from the Alaska import.
“You have to respect his effort, respect what he has done,” Guiao said of Walker, who paid a P30,000 fine for elbowing Lee at the back of the head in the fourth quarter of a 123-121 overtime win by Rain or Shine in Game 4 last Thursday.
Reid scored 16 points in the first period, 12 in the third and finished with 35. He only had one bucket in the fourth, but that one resulted in the Painters taking a 93-89 lead going into the final 62 seconds.
Vic Manuel, the revelation for the Aces in the series, hit a twisting layup that pushed the Aces to within two points again, before Lee came up with a looping layup off two defenders that made it 95-91 entering the final 31 ticks.
But Alaska wasn’t done yet, as Walker rifled in a booming triple from left quarter court at the final 23.9 mark, forcing Guiao to call time and map out a play.
The Alaska defense, though, bottled up Reid in one corner and almost succeeded in forcing a turnover, only for Lee to recover the ball and draw a foul from Walker himself with 12.7 seconds to go.
Lee, the Rookie of the Year two seasons ago, was like a cold-blooded assassin, making both free throws before Rain or Shine played tough defense on the other end that had Walker taking an off-balanced triple that missed the mark.
Thoss sat out the game because of severe back spasms; Casio couldn’t recover from the effects of a slip in the waning seconds of Game 4 while Espinas will be out for at least four months because of a fractured left ankle suffered when he tripped by himself on Thursday night.