MANILA: Rain or Shine will go on a vacation.

Just a short one.

Leading from start to finish on Sunday night, the Elasto Painters turned back Barangay Ginebra, 100-90, for a seventh straight victory that meant becoming the first team to make the Final Four of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

And with his players either injured, sick or just plain tired, Yeng Guiao welcomed the opportunity to cool their heels for at least 10 days as they watch the others slug it out in the quarterfinal phase that the Rain or Shine coach described as “risky.”

Beau Belga matched his career high with 21 points and Paul Lee tossed in 11 of his 18 in the third period as the Painters erected leads of as huge as 80-57 before fending off the Gin Kings in their trademark comeback in the fourth quarter.

“The players just wanted to win this game,” Guiao said in opening up the customary winning coach’s interview. “We don’t want to take the long route (quarterfinals) because that is just risky.”

Rain or Shine’s ascent into the semifinals outright didn’t seem possible just a month ago, when the Painters were languishing in the bottom half of the standings with a 2-2 record.

“We were really tired coming off back-to-back games,” Guiao continued. “We knew we had to continue running (today, despite the fatigue) because that’s the only way we could beat Ginebra.

“We’re an undersized team and we wanted to negate the advantage in size they (Kings) had against us,” said Guiao.

Belga scored nine points in the first to help the Painters start hot before Lee took over in the third by scoring from inside and out.

And when the Kings came charging back in the fourth quarter, Belga became the unlikely offensive anchor, even going coast-to-coast to score off his own steal off Greg Slaughter and score off the Ginebra 7-footer.

Jeff Chan sustained his good form two games into his comeback from an injury, shooting 11 points like JR Quinahan. Jireh Ibanez scored seven of his nine points in the first period to also help the Painters scoot away early.

“We need the break because our players are either injured, sick or just dead-tired,” Guiao said.

Rain or Shine completed the seven-game streak by playing with just 10 healthy men in most of those games. Against the Gin Kings, the Painters welcomed back Jervy Cruz.

Chris Tiu was also broken in for the second straight game and could come handy in the Final Four.

Meanwhile, NLEX checked a four-game slide and closed out its elimination round campaign with an 88-80 win over KIA Motors, whose coach, boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, failed to make the game.

Asi Taulava scored 19 points and had 14 rebounds – his sixth double-double of the conference – to pace the Road Warriors, who will come into the quarterfinals as the 10th seed.

Reil Cervantes tossed in a career-high 34 points in KIA’s losing cause.

“I am very happy with the way my team played, despite our record,” KIA assistant coach Glenn Capacio told reporters as they start preparations for the Commissioner’s Cup.

The first phase of the quarterfinals will have Nos. 3-6 clashing with Nos. 10-7, respectively, with the higher-ranked sides needing to win just once to advance to the second phase.

And that is where it gets risky for the protagonists since the survivors of those series will play in two KO matches to determine the last two semifinalists.

The playoffs start on Dec. 11.

KIA and Blackwater, the league newcomers who got the boot in the season-opening tournament, will be allowed to field in imports of unlimited height for the Commissioner’s Cup where the first 10 teams will feature reinforcements standing no more than 6-foot-9.

Capacio said that KIA is setting its sights on Iran’s Hamed Haddadi, the 7-foot-2 former Memphis Grizzlies center in the NBA.

“It will all depend on the salary that he (Haddadi) will ask,” Capacio said. “We know he could be expensive because he is NBA material.”