MANILA: Speed kills.

Rain or Shine made an example of Barangay Ginebra in proving that notion on Sunday night, playing at break-neck pace the whole game to score a 94-86 decision of the Gin Kings and again claim a piece of the PBA Philippine Cup lead at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Coupled with terrific outside shooting, the Painters broke away late in the third quarter and then held off the Gin Kings in the fourth behind gunslinger Jeff Chan as Rain or Shine – even with superstar sentinel Paul Lee sitting it out again – rose to 6-1 and tied defending champion San Miguel Beer and Alaska for the lead.

The loss was the first in the last four games for the Gin Kings, who trailed by 13 in the second period, pulled even, but couldn’t really keep in step with the Painters from the third quarter on to drop to a level 4-4 card.

While Rain or Shine kept a top two finish well within sight before going on a one-week break, Ginebra now finds itself in a precarious position as one more slip-up at this stage in the elimination round could mean a critical disadvantage come the first round of the playoffs.

Chan scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth, including a three-point play off the 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar with 41.7 seconds left which made it 94-84.

Cruz was also big in the stretch, with his only basket in the fourth period coming off the outstretched arms of Aguilar and the 7-foot Greg Slaughter for a 91-82 lead going into the last 1:14.

“We knew that quickness was our biggest advantage. We knew that size was their biggest advantage, that’s why we had to run all game long,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao told reporters.

“We wanted to make life hard for Greg (Slaughter) because we felt that he is the key of the Ginebra team,” Guiao went on. “If we settled with a halfcourt game, their (Kings) size would be a disadvantage for us.”

Cruz finished with 16 points, all of them coming in the final three periods, and Guiao also got 13 points from rookie Maverick Ahanmisi, who started out at the point and continued to give some of the numbers that the Painters are missing from Lee.

“It’s a good place to be (tied for first), especially since we are going on a break,” Guiao said. “We wanted to take a week’s break with a win – and at least a tie (for the lead).”

“We played harder than usual today,” continued the firebrand coach after his Painters – undersized compared to the Kings – even went on to outrebound Ginebra, 42-39, after limiting Slaughter and Aguilar to just a combined 18 boards.

Aguilar finished with 22 points and Slaughter 19 for Ginebra, which has three games left and would need nothing less than a sweep to guarantee finishing in the upper half of the standings.

GlobalPort eased out in front of Ginebra on the leaderboard after scoring a 120-105 victory over Blackwater in the first game.

Finishing from third to sixth spots – if not in the top two – carries a lot of weight as it would mean a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. Those who wind up from Nos. 7-10 would have to beat higher-ranked foes two straight times to make the semifinals.

The Batang Pier, with the win over the Elite, rose to 4-3 and put themselves in prime position of gaining a twice-to-beat edge. GlobalPort was able to snap a two-game slide with the win while pushing Blackwater on cliff’s edge.

Blackwater is just half-a-game out of the cellar with a 1-6 card but still out of the playoff picture at the moment.

Meralco is the tail-ender with a 1-7 record, with Star toting a 2-5 card and Mahindra a 1-5 slate, making the race to avoid elimination as interesting as the battle that is going on among three teams for a top two finish.

Terrence Romeo scored 26 points and Stanley Pringle had 19, six assists and the same number of rebounds for the Batang Pier, even as Carlo Lastimosa tossed in a career-high 31 to pace the Elite.