MANILA: Yeng Guiao knows exactly what he and his Rain or Shine crew just went through.

“It’s always a hard struggle whenever we play Barangay Ginebra in the playoffs,” Guiao said, moments after steering his Elasto Painters to a come-from-behind 88-84 victory over the Gin Kings and a 1-0 lead in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal series on Sunday night.

“We just kept our focus and just hung in there,” the firebrand coach said after the Painters came roaring back from 19 points down in the first half and then pulling out all the stops in a wild endgame to pull through before a disappointed pro-Ginebra crowd at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.

Jeff Chan hit the final three points for the Painters, including the dagger 18-foot jumper to beat the shotclock with 3.1 seconds remaining, giving the Painters the chance to sweep the crowd-darlings in Game 2 set Tuesday afternoon at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Chan came off the bench to help arrest a cold Rain or Shine start.

But the left-handed gunslinger missed his first four shots before draining the most important one of the night, which came after he nailed a free throw with 18.8 seconds remaining for a technical foul called on Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

In protesting the call, Cone did not coach the Kings from there, allowing assistant Richard del Rosario to finish the game while he stood in the sidelines and never ceasing to give the Commissioner’s row the dagger look.

JR Quinahan also came off the bench to shoot 17 and lead all Rain or Shine shooters. Chan wound up with 15 with import Pierre Henderson-Niles making just 12 that went with 10 boards in a 37-minute stint.

LA Tenorio finished with 20 for the Gin Kings, who got just 10 points from import Othyus Jeffers, who was hounded all game long by a pressing defense drawn up by Guiao.

Defending champion Tropang TNT also moved within a game of sweeping Alaska in their separate best-of-three series, getting the goods from rookie Troy Rosario in a 106-99 victory in the first game.

Rosario, made the second overall pick in the Draft before being dealt to the Texters, hit seven three-pointers to highlight a career-high 31 points, with 12 of those coming in the payoff frame as TNT survived the loss of a 15-point first half lead.

The Texters actually even had to come back from a 94-91 deficit with 3:31 remaining after the Aces, again behind the energy provided by the tireless Calvin Abueva, strung up runs one after the other to make a game out of it in the fourth.

“Troy just hit the big shots,” TNT coach Jong Uichico said, before reminding everyone that their job is far from finished. “You can’t count Alaska out. You can never relax against that team.”

Rosario had four of those three-pointers in the second period as the Texters came into the halftime break sitting on a 13-point bubble.

And just when he was silent for most of the second half came the explosion that gave the Texters the finishing kick they needed.

Rosario hit his last three treys in succession, with the last tying things up at 96 before Jason Castro helped put the Aces away with his only triple of the night which made it 99-97.

The 6-foot-7 Rosario, a national pool member, wasn’t done just yet.

He then completed a three-point play off Dondon Hontiveros after putting back a missed Castro layup, sealing the deal, 102-97, with a shade under a minute remaining.

TNT can also wrap up this series with a win on Tuesday also at the Big Dome.