There’s a reason why Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao remained upbeat despite losing his injured prized rookie Paul Lee.
Lee showed up in civilian clothes, wearing a sling to protect a dislocated left shoulder but the Painters didn’t miss a beat as they trounced the B-Meg Llamados, 93-84, in Game 3 of the 37th PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-seven finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
In taking a 2-1 series lead, several Painters stepped up in Lee’s absence, putting up a performance that could back up Guiao’s bold pronouncement that the team can still win the series without their injured star.
Lee aggravated a shoulder injury in the closing minutes of their 80-85 Game loss last Wednesday and is already out for the remainder of the series.
Rain or Shine, however, proved that it still has enough arsenal to win its first title in franchise history.
Jeff Chan was one of those who stepped up big time, scoring all of his 18 points in the second half, where the Painters pulled away.
Rain or Shine had a slim 40-38 lead at the start of the final half but broke the game wide open behind behind their hot perimeter shooting.
Chan made two straight triples while Ryan Araña also had back-to-back trffectas in a searing run that saw the Painters zooming to a 70-52 lead. The lead increased to as many as 21 points in the fourth.
With his team down big, Cone interestingly turned to his second stringers as James Yap and PJ Simon did not see action in the fourth, while import Marqus Blakely was sent back into court in with only 2:46 left.
But the combination of Josh Urbiztondo, Val Acuña, Yancy De Ocampo, Gerwin Gaco and Jonas Villanueva managed to put up a late push for B-Meg, which managed to cut the deficit to just seven points in the final 46.1 seconds.