Rain or Shine eyes share of lead today

Games today:

Araneta Coliseum

5:15 p.m.- Air21 vs. Alaska

7:30 p.m.- Petron vs. Rain or Shine

The rejuvenated Air21 Express try to sustain their mini run while the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters gun for the piece of the lead when they face separate foes today in the 38th PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Express, who are on a two-game winning streak, tackle the Alaska Aces in the first game, while Painters collide with the Petron Blaze Boosters in the main game.

Rain or Shine is  hoping to catch up with the league-leading Talk ’N Text Tropang Texters (7-2).

Air21 sealed its first win streak in the conference after it pulled off a an 86-85 squeaker over Barako Bull Energy Cola last Friday, where new recruit Mike Cortez shone bright by tallying 24 points, six boards, six assists and five steals.

The back-to-back wins pushed the Express to the seventh spot in the standings with a 3-5 (win-loss) records.

Air21 head coach Franz Pumaren said minimizing their errors will increase the team’s chances of avenging their 81-92 loss to the same Alaska squad in Oct. 26.

“We have to take care of the ball and push them to make turnovers,” Pumaren told pba.ph.

The Aces (5-4) are looking to get back on track as they have dropped two straight games since tallying five consecutive victories.

Alaska coach Luigi Trillo said the two straight losses were a result of inconsistency.

“Our concern has to be that we maintain our sharpness,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo. “We still have to remember that we were in control of both those games (versus Rain or Shine and San Mig) and (only) faded. We played two quality teams who have been playing well. We had 50-50 chances with those two.”

Rain or Shine, meanwhile, is not taking Petron light although the Boosetrs have lost their last three games.

“The win-loss record of Petron does not change the fact that they’re still the strongest team on paper. Yes, they have injuries but they’re so deep that they can easily adapt to this situation,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, whose squad is tied with the San Mig Coffee Mixers at second place with identical 6-2 slates.

The Painters easily defeated the Boosters in their initial meeting last Oct. 3, 102-86.

“We expect a hard, close battle all the way to the end,” said Guiao.

Petron is tied with Barako Bull for the eighth and ninth spots with similar 3-5 cards.