MANILA — December 25 turned into redemption day for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. Giving themselves a nice holiday present, the Painters rebounded from a humbling Game 2 loss to wallop the San Mig Coffee Mixers, 98-72, Tuesday in Game 3 of the PBA Philippine Cup at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. After taking a 106-82 beating from the Mixers last week, the Painters were in no mood to relax on the most celebrated holiday in the Philippines as they turned a close 18-17 game in the first quarter into a 51-32 rout at halftime. Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said they were determined to bounce back with flourish after a dismal loss last week. “Before the game, I just told them, ‘Let's give ourselves a nice Christmas gift,'” he said. “It's also a way to redeem ourselves from our embarrassing loss last time.” The Painters thus took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 set for Thursday. Despite scoring only four points, defensive specialist Jireh Ibanes was named Best Player of the Game for sticking to James Yap like a leech and limiting San Mig Coffee's top gunner to only six points. Yap blasted the Painters with a 34-point bomb in Game 2. In a show of balanced firepower, all 11 players used by Guiao managed to score, with five Painters in double digits led by Paul Lee with 15. Jervy Cruz tallied 14 while Jeff Chan chimed in 13. Larry Rodriguez and Chris Tiu had 12 and 11 respectively. PJ Simon was the lone bright spot for the Mixers as he led all scorers with 22 points. The Painters were clearly the more energetic and more determined team from the start as they threw caution to the wind by diving for loose balls and out-jumping the much taller Mixers for rebounds. Tiu typified Rain or Shine's valiant stand as he dove for the loose ball with 1:33 left in the game and his team comfortably ahead by 26 points. The Mixers tried but failed to whittle down Rain or Shine's double-digit leads in the second half as they were simply outplayed by the Painters. Guiao expressed optimism that his boys will eventually clinch the series owing to their fresher legs. “We are able to rely on our whole system and not only on the pure talent that other teams have against us. We're fresher than they are because they have to extend minutes of some guys,” he said.
