THERE's good news and bad news for Rain or Shine going to its match with Blackwater Wednesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
First, center Beau Belga and power forward Caelan Tiongson are fit enough to see action, help the Elasto Painters get back on track, and improve to a 3-2 record.
But the uncertainty of whether Sedrick Barefield (hamstring) and Christian David (ankle sprain) have recovered enough from their respective injuries to boost the Bossing from their current 1-3 slate gnaws at Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
"Blackwater is still a dangerous team. They have the materials to contend with the stronger teams if they're 100 percent, injury-free," said Guiao.
"If they have a complete lineup and they're healthy, I think they can beat any team," added Guiao. "They're just running through some bad stretch at this point."
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Game time is 5 p.m.
Still, the additional presence of Belga and Tiongson is undeniably a big morale booster for Rain or Shine. "Malaking morale booster para sa amin, importante dahil kalaban namin Blackwater," said Guiao.
"Alam naming na-injured 'yung Barefield at David, pero we're preparing for them having a full lineup. Our assumption is, they can play."
Without Belga (vertigo) and Tiongson (back spasms) the E-Painters lost to Converge, 97-107, last week, cutting short the former's two-game winning run without a legitimate slotman.
Not even the return to action of Keith Datu, injured right in Rain or Shine's conference-opener, could prop the E-Painters from Converge's decisive size advantage with Justine Baltazar and Justin Arana combining for almost the total of ROS's 40 rebounds.
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"Mahirap talaga sa amin if we don't have our regular bigs," noted Guiao. "Seventeen rebounds si Arana, 22 rebounds si Balti. Between them they had 39 rebounds which was almost our team total. So that's how big the size differential was. That was the whole game in itself."
Guiao is now hoping his team would turn things around with the return of two of his main frontliners. "Etong Blackwater, although they have size, I still feel na we can neutralize the size as long as we can get some good minutes from Beau and Caelan," he said.
"Hindi kami kasing problematic sa size nila as against Converge so that lessens some of our concerns." (NC)
