Rain or Shine is in the Finals again, and Paul Lee knows what his role in this team is.
“This is the right time, championship time, when everything is on the line and Paul is back to his role as the leader of this team,” coach Yeng Guiao said after his superstar point guard erupted for 20 points and helped the Elasto Painters gain a 1-0 lead over Alaska in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series.
Lee drained the back-breaking triple with 51.4 seconds left, and the Painters went on to post a 105-97 Game 1 win over the hard-fighting Aces as the best-of-seven battle between the two hungry squads got off to a thrilling start on Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
It was the most productive game for Lee this conference, where he has struggled to stay away from injuries and actually yielded top playmaking chores to rookie Maverick Ahanmisi.
But when the stakes are truly high, when the pressure is numbing, Lee showed the greatness in him and gave the Painters back the go-to-guy that they missed for most of the conference.
The 6-foot guard found himself open in transition at the left quarter court and didn’t hesitate, launching what proved to be the biggest triple of the night for a 99-94 count as the Painters drew first blood in the series many see to be close.
That defensive breakdown is one of several which Alaska coach Alex Compton said were mistakes they committed in the endgame as the Aces remained winless in their last five games in a title series, counting the last four they lost to San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Cup Finals.
“We made a bunch of mistakes down the stretch,” Compton, obviously dejected, said. “That’s what makes Rain or Shine really good – you make a mistake and they will surely make you pay.”
Game 2 is slated Sunday night, and for all intents and purposes, Alaska – considering how undermanned it is – cannot afford to drop that one and fall into a 0-2 hole against arguably the deepest team in the conference.
The Painters got a lot of players shining in different stages of the contest, with Jericho Cruz engineering a hot start and Beau Belga and Gabe Norwood also doing damage on the Aces.
Rob Dozier tried carrying the fight for the Aces, finishing with a career-high 41 only to be shut down in the stretch when Guiao took a gamble that paid off.
The former Best Import hardly missed, making 18-for-22 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range that had the Rain or Shine defense befuddled.
Until Guiao put import Pierre Henderson-Niles on Dozier in the fourth, which made the Alaska import work a tad harder for his shots – and eventually miss some. Dozier scored in twin digits in the first three, and had nine in the fourth.
“He (Dozier) was 9-of-10 in the first half,” Guiao said. “P (Henderson-Niles) played him harder in the fourth, unlike in the first three quarters when our locals were guarding him.”
Rain or Shine raced to a 16-7 lead after just over three minutes behind 10 points from Cruz and seven from Belga.
But Alaska fought back using its suffocating full court press, and even held the lead a couple of times in the second half only for the Painters peel away from an 87-all game with seven unanswered points, five coming from Norwood.
Alaska came back to within 94-96 before Lee came up with that cold-blooded triple, before Ahanmisi made four straight free throws to put the game away for the Painters, who are in search of their second title – and first since 2012.
Calvin Abueva, the favorite to win the Best Player of the Conference award, finished with just nine points for the Aces, whose last championship came in the 2013 edition of this tournament.
“This is the right time, championship time, when everything is on the line and Paul is back to his role as the leader of this team,” coach Yeng Guiao said after his superstar point guard erupted for 20 points and helped the Elasto Painters gain a 1-0 lead over Alaska in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series.
Lee drained the back-breaking triple with 51.4 seconds left, and the Painters went on to post a 105-97 Game 1 win over the hard-fighting Aces as the best-of-seven battle between the two hungry squads got off to a thrilling start on Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
It was the most productive game for Lee this conference, where he has struggled to stay away from injuries and actually yielded top playmaking chores to rookie Maverick Ahanmisi.
But when the stakes are truly high, when the pressure is numbing, Lee showed the greatness in him and gave the Painters back the go-to-guy that they missed for most of the conference.
The 6-foot guard found himself open in transition at the left quarter court and didn’t hesitate, launching what proved to be the biggest triple of the night for a 99-94 count as the Painters drew first blood in the series many see to be close.
That defensive breakdown is one of several which Alaska coach Alex Compton said were mistakes they committed in the endgame as the Aces remained winless in their last five games in a title series, counting the last four they lost to San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Cup Finals.
“We made a bunch of mistakes down the stretch,” Compton, obviously dejected, said. “That’s what makes Rain or Shine really good – you make a mistake and they will surely make you pay.”
Game 2 is slated Sunday night, and for all intents and purposes, Alaska – considering how undermanned it is – cannot afford to drop that one and fall into a 0-2 hole against arguably the deepest team in the conference.
The Painters got a lot of players shining in different stages of the contest, with Jericho Cruz engineering a hot start and Beau Belga and Gabe Norwood also doing damage on the Aces.
Rob Dozier tried carrying the fight for the Aces, finishing with a career-high 41 only to be shut down in the stretch when Guiao took a gamble that paid off.
The former Best Import hardly missed, making 18-for-22 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range that had the Rain or Shine defense befuddled.
Until Guiao put import Pierre Henderson-Niles on Dozier in the fourth, which made the Alaska import work a tad harder for his shots – and eventually miss some. Dozier scored in twin digits in the first three, and had nine in the fourth.
“He (Dozier) was 9-of-10 in the first half,” Guiao said. “P (Henderson-Niles) played him harder in the fourth, unlike in the first three quarters when our locals were guarding him.”
Rain or Shine raced to a 16-7 lead after just over three minutes behind 10 points from Cruz and seven from Belga.
But Alaska fought back using its suffocating full court press, and even held the lead a couple of times in the second half only for the Painters peel away from an 87-all game with seven unanswered points, five coming from Norwood.
Alaska came back to within 94-96 before Lee came up with that cold-blooded triple, before Ahanmisi made four straight free throws to put the game away for the Painters, who are in search of their second title – and first since 2012.
Calvin Abueva, the favorite to win the Best Player of the Conference award, finished with just nine points for the Aces, whose last championship came in the 2013 edition of this tournament.
