Paul Lee did everything and saved Rain or Shine from imploding on Friday night.

The Rookie of the Year two seasons ago, Lee scored, passed, rebounded and quarterbacked the Elasto Painters in a turbulent ending that salvaged an 86-83 victory over San Mig Coffee in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.

Lee, the 6-foot former University of the East ace, drilled back-to-back triples at the height of a San Mig rally, giving the Painters breathing room each time before sealing his career game with a free throw with three seconds left that rounded out scoring.

It was the fourth win in five games for the Painters, one that they churned out despite missing 14-of-30 free throws and playing sloppy in the stretch.

And it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for Lee’s heroics.

“We played sloppy in the endgame,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said. “The biggest shot of the game was Paul’s three off the backboard. That’s also our biggest break. We’re just lucky to get away with the win.”

With the Painters protecting a shaky 75-74 lead and their offense in that instance close to being a disastrous play, Lee heaved a triple try that bounced off the backboard and beat the 24-second shotclock.

And after the Mixers had come within 78-76 after two Rafi Reavis free throws off a Jeff Chan foul, Lee drained the second triple from way, way out before following this up with a fastbreak layup for an 83-76 lead heading into the final 1:39.

But San Mig didn’t just roll over and die from there as Barroca hit a triple and Marc Pingris a short jumper after Beau Belga lost possession for the Painters, making it 83-81 with 46.2 seconds remaining.

Rain or Shine just couldn’t put the Mixers away as Gabe Norwood, with the score pegged at 85-83, missed two free throws with 11.1 seconds left, giving San Mig a chance to tie or even take the lead.

Barroca, though, missed a high-looping layup and Lee collared the rebound with authority before being sent to the free throw line by a duty foul from Barroca for the final point of the game.

San Mig dropped to 1-4, just a rung higher than the cellar-dwelling Air21 Express, who are at 0-5.

“The win-loss record of San Mig does not reflect how strong that team really is,” Guiao said. “Pretty soon, when they’re all healthy, they will get back in the upper half of the standings.”

San Mig played without former two-time MVP James Yap and welcomed back Joe Devance for his first game of the season.

Barroca paced the Mixers with 23 points, Peter June Simon – in just his second game back from an injury – tossed in 18.

In the first game, Globalport’s veteran stars in Sol Mercado and Jay Washington were both big offensively and the Batang Pier hammered out a 93-89 decision of Meralco after getting a rookie to also play big in the stretch, but it wasn’t Terrence Romeo this time.

RR Garcia, whom Globalport nabbed next to Romeo in the Draft at sixth overall, hit two key triples in the fourth quarter that helped the Batang Pier snap a two-game losing streak and rise to 2-3 overall.

Meralco fell to the same slate after seeing its two-game winning streak come to a halt.

Garcia’s second triple practically broke the Bolts’ collective backs as it gave the Batang Pier an 87-82 lead going into the final 65 seconds.

Also a former UAAP MVP with Far Eastern like Romeo, the 5-foot-10 Garcia also hit a free throw with 9.9 seconds left to put the Bolts away, 91-87.

“Everybody knows that he (Romeo) has it (a good offensive game),” rookie coach Richie Ticzon said of Romeo. “That’s why he’s in the endgame. And good for us that he knocked them (triples in the fourth) down.”

Meanwhile, Petron Blaze shoots for win No. 5 on Saturday when it clashes with Alaska also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

Game time is 5:45 p.m. with the Boosters hoping to sustain their streak despite missing several key men like Alex Cabagnot and Chris Lutz.

Barako Bull tries to check an alarming two-game slide in the first game at 3:30 p.m. while seeking to repeat over the Express.