Norman Black can’t say enough about how tough his Talk ‘N Text crew plays defense.

And Rain or Shine couldn’t have tried harder in getting out of the shackles of the Tropang Texters.

Talk ‘N Text overhauled a nine-point deficit early in the fourth quarter last night by holding Rain or Shine to 10 points in the final 10:57, churning out a 90-80 decision for a 3-0 lead in their PBA Philippine Cup championship series at the Araneta Coliseum.

Jimmy Alapag, the one-time MVP, hit the shots that hurt the Elasto Painters, draining two straight triples at the height of the telling Talk ‘N Text run that allowed the Texters to break from a 76-all game to win pulling away.

“We really struggled offensively, but we played very good defense, especially in the fourth quarter when we made some pretty crucial stops,” Black told reporters after moving on the brink of the 11th title of his glorious career.

Beau Belga nailed a triple with 10:57 left, ushering the Elasto Painters to a 70-61 lead, before things went sour offensively for Rain or Shine in what turned out to be the most lopsided game of the series.

Talk ‘N Text actually hit three straight threes, the first coming from Ranidel de Ocampo for that 76-all tie.

The Texters, after Alapag drained his triple combo, then forced the Painters to miss a series of shots, and Rain or Shine wouldn’t score again until the final 2:34, when Jervy Cruz completed a three-point play off Harvey Carey for 82-79.

Ryan Reyes answered right back with two free throws for the Texters on the other end, and Jason Castro made the Painters pay for a critical Gabe Norwood error by nailing a three-pointer for 87-79 with 1:46 remaining.

No team in the history of the PBA has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, with only one of 12 teams to ever fall behind by such a deficit managing to take the playoffs to a sixth game.

If ever, this will just be the fourth sweep of a title series in the league, with the last happening in the 2009-2010 season when Purefoods, now San Mig Coffee, ripped Alaska Milk apart.

Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao owns one of those three previous Finals sweeps, when he steered his Swift Mighty Meaty Hotdogs to a 4-0 victory over Derrick Pumaren and the Seven-Up Uncolas in the 1992 Third Conference.

And Guiao knows what he is up against after the most painful loss for him in this title series. He wasn’t about to give false hopes to anyone with his statement.

“I guess I will just try to delay their celebration,” Guiao said in a gloomy tone.

Castro led the Texters with 19 points and Alapag finished with 15, all of them in the second half, with De Ocampo shooting 13 and Ryan Reyes and Kelly Williams firing 11 apiece and combining for 16 rebounds.

The potential series-clinching game is slated Wednesday also at the Big Dome and of all people, it was Black who tried to avoid mentioning the word ‘sweep’ during the interview.

“We will try to win the game on Wednesday, because we are now in position to do so,” Black said. “If we win then it’s a sweep.

“One thing is for sure, we will go all out to win Game 4 on Wednesday.”