One series branded to be so balanced has slowly painted a clearer picture early, while the other many thought would be one-sided is the one that remains to be on the balance.

Rain or Shine on Thursday night tore San Mig Coffee apart and took a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven semifinal showdown in the PBA Philippine Cup after an 83-74 decision at the Mall of Asia Arena.

And the Elasto Painters did it with very little help coming from super sophomore Paul Lee, who played the worst game of his comeback but was hardly felt by the very determined Rain or Shine crew.

It was the second straight win in the series for the Painters, who drew just two points from Lee but had everyone else playing at a high level as Rain or Shine built leads of as many as 18 points in the third period.

“I am not surprised that several others stepped up with Paul played horribly,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said. “This team was built to be that way, to not be dependent on just one man.” San Mig Coffee was paced by James Yap’s 20 points, though coach Tim Cone again started calling the attention of the referees who he said is not protecting his superstar gunslinger.

“My heart bleeds for James (Yap). In my 24 years (coaching), I’ve never seen a superstar like James receive so little protection from the referees or the league,” Cone said. “We are very discouraged at this point.

“But the key for us is rediscovering our fire,” he said.

After that terrific victory by the Painters, the over-achieving Alaska Aces levelled their series with the powerhouse defending champion Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters at 2-2 after a masterful 104-99 triumph Friday night.

JV Casio, Cyrus Baguio and phenomenal rookie Calvin Abueva again carried the fight for the Aces, a squad given very little chance against this highly-successful Talk ‘N Text crew.

“It was another one of those games, the grind-it-out type,” Alaska coach Luigi Trillo said. “There’s no reason to celebrate at this time. All we did was make this a best-of-three series.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and prepare as hard as we can for Game 5,” Trillo added.

Alaska shut down the Texters in the third period, limiting them to just 18 points before building a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter, which proved to be enough of a buffer to hold off Talk ‘N Text in the stretch.

Casio rifled in 22 points and was 8-of-9 from the line, and Baguio finished with 18, including the triple that proved to be the dagger to the heart of the Texters with 1:15 left that made it 99-94.

“We know that Talk ‘N Text is a very explosive team and I am happy that we were able to hold them down to 18 in the third quarter,” Trillo said.

Talk ‘N Text fell behind, 74-87 after a Baguio layup with 9:30 remaining.

But the Texters did not just roll over and die from there as they fought hard and even came to within two points at 92-94 with 2:17 remaining after a Jimmy Alapag triple that drew a foul to boot from Casio.

Alapag, though, failed to apply more pressure on Alaska by failing to complete the four-point play, and the Texters again bungled a chance to tie it up when Abueva fished for Ranidel de Ocampo’s final foul, an offensive variety, with 1:38 left.

Abueva then scored unmolested underneath 10 seconds later before that Baguio triple sandwiched a Jason Castro layup that practically sealed the outcome.

Game 5 of the Talk ‘N Text-Alaska series is set on Sunday.