RAIN or Shine and Magnolia engage in a playoffs matchup for the first time in a while, and it's expected to be cutthroat duel especially with no one enjoying any kind of advantage as was the case in previous quarterfinals.
Forget that Rain or Shine was the top qualifier from Group B and Magnolia the fourth seed from Group A. There's no twice-to-beat edge for the higher seeded team.
It's a best-of-five series with the Elasto Painters and the Hotshots fighting for the decisive head start in their side of the PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium Wednesday.
Game time is at 7:30 p.m., marking a first postseason clash between the two teams since Magnolia swept Rain or Shine in their best-of-three faceoff in the 2021 Philippine Cup quarterfinals.
But the Elasto Painters are a different team now with the entry of Gian Mamuyac, Shaun Ildefonso, Jhonard Clarito, Keith Datu, Adrian Nocum, Caelan Tiongson and Felix Lemetti and with kind of rah-rah game they're playing under coach Yeng Guiao.
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Then add import Aaron Fuller, who looks fitted well with the team as has been very well evident in their top showing in Group B during the eliminations.
And that could serve the E-Painters very well while ranged against the Magnolia team facing health concerns and issue on chemistry with new import Rayvonte Rice.
As a replacement to Shabazz Muhammad, Rice was good for only 2-of-14 clip plus seven rebounds in 27 minutes of action in his debut with Magnolia Sunday.
The Hotshots went down to an 82-89 loss in that game where coach Chito Victolero rested his top guns in preparation for the playoffs.
"We will face the No. 1 team with a lot of talent and a very good import. We'll just try to be ready. We wanted our players to stay healthy," said Victolero then.
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It's gonna be a long series, a best-of-five, and then we will play every other day. That's why I wanted them (the Hotshots) to be fresh. We cannot afford to have major minutes (for Sunday's game) kasi it's hard for us to recover on one-day prep," Victolero added.
Against the E-Painters, it's expected to be a run-and-gun battle. (SB)
