MANILA – The Lethal Weapon spelled doom for the Kings. Firing 25 points in just 26 minutes of action, Paul “The Lethal Weapon” Lee led the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a 102-89 demolition of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the deciding Game 3 of their 2012-2013 PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals series at the Smart-Araneta Center. The Painters thus won their quarterfinals duel 2-1 and advanced into the semifinals. They will face the second-seeded San Mig Coffee Mixers in a best-of-seven series beginning Wednesday, Dec. 19, in a rematch of last season's Governors' Cup finals. From a 47-47 halftime deadlock, Lee scored 14 points as he presided over a searing 29-17 Rain or Shine run as the Painters erected a 76-64 lead. The Kings never gave up as they managed to cut the lead to seven, 79-72. But that proved to be the closest they could come as the Painters uncorked another run to finally bid Ginebra goodbye. It marked the second straight year that Rain or Shine eliminated Ginebra in the Philippine Cup. Gabe Norwood also starred for the Painters, finishing with 21 points, six assists, and two steals. His best highlight reel came when he took a pass from Lee and executed a difficult two-hand alleyoop dunk over Rudy Hatfield to increase Rain or Shine's lead to 21, 72-51, with four minutes left in the third quarter. Two other Painters scored in double digits — Jervy Cruz with 12 and Beau Belga with 11. Billy Mamaril finished with a career-high 20 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks in a losing effort for Ginebra. LA Tenorio also chimed in 20 points while Mark Caguioa and Rico Maierhofer added 14 and 11 points respectively. Unlike in Game 2 when they shot a woeful 27 percent from the three-point arc (nine out of 33), the Painters were more on target Sunday, hitting nine of 22, for a 41 percent clip. Five of the missed three-pointers came from Rain or Shine's top gunner Jeff Chan who continued to struggle with his shots. Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said Chan's shooting woe did not affect his team that much. “(Ronnie) Matias hit his shots, Paul hit his shots, Gabe hit some shots. That's the design of this team. When one player is on a slump, others will step up,” he said. Guiao said their Game 2 setback taught them a lesson.
