MANILA: Wayne Chism was kind of gun-shy; Jeff Chan wasn’t feeling well and Yeng Guiao, as usual, felt that there were still lapses in officiating.

Despite that being said, the Elasto Painters still proved too much for Meralco to handle on Tuesday night.

Running and gunning in the second half, the Painters outworked the Bolts and posted a 99-86 victory for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Final Four series in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Meralco engaged the Painters in a tight contest for three periods before losing steam in the face of Rain or Shine’s furious running game.

Rain or Shine held Meralco’s top gunners to the minimum, allowing superstar shooter Gary David just 14 points and hard-working import Josh Davis 11 as the Painters’ swarming defense did its job to the hilt.

“Again, it was our experience that gave us the advantage to play good,” Yeng Guiao said. “But this is just the first game. It’s a good thing that we won, but this is far from over.”

He then took shots at officiating after a three-pointer by Gabe Norwood was nullified halfway through the fourth, which would have given the Painters a 10-point lead.

Guiao was contending that Norwood’s shot should have been counted, even though it was made so close to the expiration of the 24-second shot clock.

“The refs corrected the error after the shot was made, there was no whistle,” Guiao contended. “We’re getting confused. We just have to get control of the officiating.

“This early, they (PBA officials) should get themselves in one room and talk about what they can do with the officiating,” Guiao continued.

Game 2 of this series is scheduled for Sunday, and because of the long break, Guiao feels that Meralco coach Norman Black has all the time to make adjustments and kill whatever momentum the Painters might have.

“It’s good hat we have the advantage after winning the first game,” Guiao said. “But they have the time to prepare.”

Chism did not really assert himself offensively, but was efficient to say the very least.

A prime candidate for the Best Import award, the 6-foot-8 Chism took just eight shots from the field and missed just one. He was also perfect in four attempts from the line and pace the Painters with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Chan, meanwhile, complained of pain in both legs and wound up scoreless.

That wasn’t a problem against the Bolts, who missed the services of Jared Dillinger and who are, hands-down, the underdogs in this series.

Paul Lee scattered 14 markers and several others took turns in hitting big shots in the fourth period where the Painters broke away.

Norwood, rookie Jericho Cruz and Chris Tiu scored nine points each and the Rain or Shine bench outscored their counterparts, 50-27. The Painters also had a 26-2 advantage in fastbreak points.

The winner of this series will advance to face the survivor of the Purefoods-Talk ‘N Text pairing, Game 1 of which will be on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Frankie Lim was appointed the new coach of Barangay Ginebra and his first order of business was to trade away former collegiate superstars Dylan Ababou and James Forrester to Barako Bull.

The Gin Kings will get the Energy’s first round Draft pick later in the year.

Also on the table are trades being worked out to get Stanley Pringle from Globalport with the Kings reportedly set to deal away superstar point guard, the former Jones Cup MVP LA Tenorio.

Chris Ellis, the high-flying Fil-American swingman, is also a trade bait and reports have it that the Bolts are interested in his services.

Lim took over from Ato Agustin, who steered the Kings to a disappointing quarterfinal exit despite a hulking lineup and one of the most sought-after imports in Michael Dunigan.

The season-ending Governors’ Cup will open on May 5.