RAIN or Shine just got bitten anew by a team that has lorded over it for the season.
The Elasto Painters intend to return the favor on the Meralco Bolts when they collide in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
Rain or Shine surely needs to repeat its wins over Meralco in the season's first two conferences.
Columbian completed its three-game sweep of the E-Painters for the season by notching a 100-84 win last Friday.
Coupled with Meralco's 94-88 win over erstwhile streaking Magnolia Ang Pambansang Manok later the same evening, the Bolts took over ninth-running spot.
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The E-Painters must now win all their remaining games, which include Phoenix on Wednesday and San Miguel Beer and NLEX over the next two Saturdays, to gain inclusion among the eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals.
Meralco is at least as hard-pressed as Rain or Shine to win all its games.
Despite the stirring victory over the Hotshots, which came on the heels of a funk-snapping 108-105 triumph over NLEX, the Bolts must prevail not only against the E-Painters but also against SMB on Nov. 3 and hope the five wins at the end of the eliminations would be enough to book a quarters seat.
Even Meralco coach Norman Black is not sure.
"Its still going to be very difficult," admitted Black, whose team got into the hole after losing six straight games.
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"We still have to win our last two games to have a chance to tie. We still don't know if that's going to be enough to give us a tie."
Yet Black remains upbeat, his attitude bolstered by the way his players have managed to step up defensively, more so against Magnolia.
Furthermore, the E-Painters would be without big man Beau Belga, who suffered a left foot injury early in the Columbian game.
Already without sulking center Raymund Almazan and with Jewel Ponferrada nursing a sore right ankle Rain or Shine's remaining paint patrollers would have to step up big-time for them to have a chance against an Allen Durham-led Meralco crew.(NC)
