BOTH coach Yeng Guiao and veteran Beau Belga believe that Rain or Shine's new lease on life in the PBA Commissioner's Cup was made possible by its replacement import, Tree Treadwell.
"It's finding the right import," the burly big man said when asked about the Elastopainters' late turnaround in the conference that had the club barging into the knockout stage.
"Our first import, he was more of an outside threat. That's most likely 10 to 12 outside shots coming from him. This time, the coaches were able to bring in an inside operator. So the outside shots went to the locals. [Our production] became spread out," he explained.
Guiao explained it more thoroughly.
"The locals gain confidence in the process. They know that they can't just put 40 or 50 points on the shoulders of our import. That is big in making them look for their shots, in their decision-making," the champion mentor said.
Sponsored content: "He's exactly what we need. As I've said before, he's not a heavy scorer," he said of Treadwell. "He's not flashy. I would've liked someone with three-point shooting but I'm fine with someone lacking outside game if he's this dominant inside."
After playing goat in the loss against San Miguel, Treadwell has been on a tear. The American forward has been averaging 21.5 points and 18.6 rebounds in the six straight wins that eventually put them at No. 7 in the standings.
"I was just coming in and learning the style of play and what exactly Rain or Shine needed to win basketball," Treadwell told PBA.ph. "Once I figured that out, I think I was able to bring my winning DNA, my winning spirit and leadership to this team, [ultimately] helping us."
Redemption and a chance to keep Rain or Shine's conference alive is up for grabs for Treadwell when the Elastopainters battle the No. 2-seeded Beermen this Friday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
And Treadwell knows that he has his work cut out for himself.
Sponsored content: "I'll just have to focus and leave everything out on the floor. We'll let the chips fall from there," he said. "We just got to bring our a-game. We're going to have to beat that team twice. It's not going to be easy. We don't believe it's gonna be easy. We've got to come focused, ready to play." (DD)
