AZ Reid proves himself as Rain or Shine equalizes series

MANILA, Philippines – The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters never said they were going out without a fight. They said they wanted to make their own history. And the first step towards that was equalizing the finals series after a 0-1 start.

They successfully made it to 1-1 thanks to newly minted Best Import of the Conference AZ Reid’s game-winning triple late in overtime, which gave the Painters an 89-87 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-5 Finals series against the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers in the 2014 PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup on Thursday, July 3 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Down by a point, 86-87, Reid pulled up for the second time on Tuesday night from the top of the key with 6.7 seconds left in overtime and knocked down the go-ahead three-pointer, 89-87, to help his team avoid a 2-0 hole and, more importantly, prove exactly why he was given his second Bobby Parks PBA Best Import award just two hours earlier.

“That’s why he’s Best Import. He wants the ball when it’s crunch time and he will most likely deliver,” said Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao of Reid.

He also explained that Reid did exactly what was asked of him, which was to make an attempt right away.

“That’s the play. We were telling him to attack under 7 seconds and that’s I think 6.5.”

Reid, who won the Best Import plum by a landslide 1306 points, posted 29 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 assists after scoring just two points in the first half of Game 2.

Starting out flat and down 19-7, the Painters came back in no time – literally in just over a minute – as they cut the lead to 20-18 with 3:11 left in the first period. They eventually knotted things up at 37-all at the break and the game had since been a seesaw affair.

Thanks to the timely emergence of guard Mark Barroca early in the fourth, San Mig Coffee quickly overcame a 7-point 62-55 third quarter deficit and turned it into a 71-66 advantage, punctuated by a Justin Melton alley-oop jam off a lob from Alex Mallari.

Barroca, who had no points at halfime, scored 6 of the Mixers’ points in a 12-0 run to start the fourth.

He also involved himself a great deal in setting up his teammates and defending, even causing Chris Tiu to turn the ball over with over 9 minutes left in the fourth.

However, the Painters, a team dead set on making their own history, kept it a close one as Reid tied the count at 80 with 1:08 remaining on a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Little did he know, he would be making the exact same shot again 6 minutes later to win the game for his team.

Guiao’s wards hurt themselves dearly towards the end of regulation by missing crucial free throws that could’ve finished the Mixers off.

After Paul Lee missed 4 charities in the fourth, Beau Belga followed suit with two empty attempts from the line, robbing themselves of the chance to be up by two with under 50 seconds to play.

Those missed freebies held greater weight as both teams failed to score again in regulation and the game went into overtime.

“I just thought the game could’ve ended earlier if we just made free throws from Beau (Belga) and from Paul (Lee),” Guiao noted. “Uncharacteristically, Paul missed 4 free throws. He doesn’t usually miss that many free throws in the endgame.”

The extra session found both teams letting loose all their ammunition – from triples courtesy of James Yap and Jeff Chan, to beautiful defensive stops that tipped the scale slightly to either team’s favor in every possession.

“We just grinded it out, we just stayed there and stayed composed and we did not give up,” Guiao said.

Chan wound up with 14 points for the Painters as Lee and Gabe Norwood added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

On the side of San Mig Coffee, Yap led his teammates with 22 points while Marc Pingris added 17 markers and 13 rebounds.

Best Import runner-up Marqus Blakely chipped in 14 points and 14 rebounds in another quiet game for him.

“Bottomline is we didn’t execute,” San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone said. “Sayang (What a waste) because we had that game a couple times and we couldn’t pull through.”

It truly was a waste for San Mig Coffee as they held a one-point lead, 87-86, with 13 seconds remaining in overtime thanks to a big shot by Yap. Prior to that, Yap delivered as well on a go-ahead one-hander that made it 83-85.

But unlike Game 1, Big Game James could not bail his team out of this one.

The Grand Slam-seeking Mixers couldn’t hold on despite their best efforts as Reid stood tall in the end, taking proud strides toward the camera with the signature game face he’s come to be known for.

Scores:

RAIN OR SHINE (89) – Reid 29, Chan 14, Lee 12, Norwood 10, Cruz 8, Teng 7, Belga 4, Arana 3, Almazan 2, Tiu 0, Ibanes 0, Rodriguez 0.

SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE (87) – Yap 22, Pingris 17, Blakely 14, Simon 11, Mallari 7, Barroca 6, Sangalang 6, Melton 4, Maliksi 0, Devance 0, Reavis 0.

Quarter scores: 18-24, 37-37, 66-59, 80-80, 89-87.

– Rappler.com