MANILA: Rain or Shine bombed Meralco from afar on Sunday night and put the Bolts in a deep, huge hole that very few teams have ever come out of.

Shrugging off a very slow start, the Elasto Painters turned to the three-point shot in the final three periods to tear the Bolts apart, 92-82, and take a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series for the title series slot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Rain or Shine dropped 19 haymakers on the Bolts, with super guard Paul Lee accounting for five of them and Jonathan Uyloan and rookie Jericho Cruz shooting three each.

After which, coach Yeng Guiao summed it all up by borrowing a long used adage: “They took a risk and we won the gamble.”

Meralco, which lost Game 1, 99-86 but started out this one by taking leads of as large as 14 points in the second quarter, tried double-teaming Rain or Shine import Wayne Chism all night and paid a hefty price.

“We won the gamble when we made our outside shots,” Guiao said. “They (Bolts) took a risk in double-teaming Wayne (Chism). If it were otherwise, if we did not make our outside shots, it would have been different.”

Game 3, the potential clincher, is slated Tuesday night also at the Big Dome and Guiao gave no hints that they would be taking it easy.

“We hope to close it out on Tuesday. With one foot in the door, we’re hoping to put all our energy into Tuesday,” Guiao said.

Lee finished with 23 points – all in the final three frames – and Cruz had 15 after carrying the fight for the Painters in the first with 10 of their 16.

Chism knew that the defense was focused on him and was willing to make the pop out passes, finishing with just 11 but having game-highs in rebounds with 18 and assists with six.

“I was a little disappointed with Wayne in the first half,” Guiao said. “That’s what I told him in the interval (halftime break). And he did a lot better in the second half.”

Chism, a strong candidate for the Best Import award, drove the final nail in the coffin of the Bolts with 45 seconds left when he hit a triple that beat the shotclock for what turned out to be the final score.

For the Bolts, the situation is clear – win at all cost in Game 3.

But the odds are not really in favor of the intrepid Bolts, who will be seeking to become just the fourth team in league history to come back from a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series to win.

There have been 44 teams that took 2-0 leads in race-to-three affairs and 41 have gone on to wrap up the series.

Josh Davis, after being held to a lukewarm 11 in the series opener, tossed in 23 for the Bolts this time, with gunslinger Gary David shooting 17 and Reynel Hugnatan 12.

But Meralco couldn’t sustain its hot start, shooting just 35 points in the final two frames to go down.

Guiao, aside from bemoaning their slow start, also called game official Ray Yante a “barefaced liar” after the game after being slapped with a technical foul for supposed profane language by the same referee for the second time in these playoffs.

“Twice now (in the playoffs), referee (Ray) Yante said I used profane language,” Guiao said. “He’s a barefaced liar. I don’t know where he got that. You cannot invent calls and he was just inventing calls.”

Guiao was whistled for a technical foul with 5:50 left in the second quarter.

“That’s dangerous for a referee,” added Guiao, who was also slapped a technical for the same violation by Yante in their quarterfinal match against Barangay Ginebra. “We will request the PBA to not let him officiate in any more of our games.”

Meanwhile, defending champion Purefoods shoots for a similar 2-0 lead against Talk ‘N Text in the other half of the Final Four when their Game 2 is played Monday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Denzel Bowles has been the biggest headache of Talk ‘N Text coach Jong Uichico, who cannot have his wards start off the way they did in the series opener if they are to avoid falling into the same deep hole that Meralco is in right now.

Ivan Johnson will pace the Tropang Texters, but Uichico will have to get his locals to play Bowles higher defensively, with the Purefoods import doing most of his damage making 18- to 20-foot jumpers.