Analyzing Rain or Shine and TNT as they enter the playoffs

(c) PBA Media Bureau

Rain or Shine and TNT had been battling for the championships in the past few years. In this conference, they will again reached the next level but in different echelons. TNT will end up in the top 4 while Rain or Shine will settle in the bottom 4.

So, let us check their match-up last Sunday. We will analyze the 1st and 4th quarter.

(c) Sports5

1^st Quarter

- TNT started with a very big line-up.

- In the first three minutes, TNT found good shots but they failed to knocked majority of them. On the other hand, Tolomia exhibited his craftiness. Check 2:47 (video time) and you will see how he gave Ponferada an open shot.

- TNT was a little bit late in taking advantage of their prevalent size as their first post shot was not attempted until four minutes had passed. (9:46 video time)

- In the 9-6 minutes of the game, you will observed that TNT was playing faster without their import. James Yap was aggressive during the said time span and he was rewarded with free-throws.

- Jayson Castro entered the game at 5:49 game time, with Roger Pogoy.

- James Yap was outsmarting his defender, Troy Rosario.

- In the 6-3 minutes, Duke Crews did not facilitate any play for his team. Although, they were trying to give him good shots. On the other hand, Jayson Castro was controlling the offense of TNT. He went for a lot of pick and rolls. But he was passive, he ended up passing on all those pick and rolls.

- In the last three minutes, Duke Crews attempted two shots at the rim. He missed both because he was not strong enough to maintain a good form for his attempts. Raymond Almazan have a good connection with Crews in completing high-low plays.

- One thing that was pretty apparent was the passing ability of the frontline of the Ka-Tropa and the patented chemistry of the Elasto Painters was also on display.

(c) Sports5

4^th Quarter

- TNT are on the lead and they started the quarter with their import against the All-Filipino line-up of ROS.

- Check the play at 0:51 (video time). Troy Rosario was totally out of sync from his teammates on their defensive stand and he ended up giving an open three-pointer from the corner. The defensive struggle of Troy, continued.

- On the very next play, it was the turn of Jericho Cruz to exhibit a bad defensive play when he decided not to swap with Ponferada and ended up facing RDO, who made the right pass and they ended up taking a good shot.

- In the first four minutes, the blue squad was slowing the pace while the men in white were moving faster. Rain or Shine’s bigs took advantage of the spacing that they have by attacking the rim. Belga went twice while Jay Wash tried once.

- On the other hand, Jayson Castro sustained his role as the decoy, giving out accurate passes to his teammates.

- Old classic post battle in 13:16 (video time) between Almazan and RDO. Almazan reached a great spot but failed to deliver a good shot. If he polished his post shots, Almazan would be an amazing weapon inside.

- In the middle four minutes (8-4), Rain or Shine made an interesting defensive tactic. They were double-teaming Castro even as far as outside the three-point line. Unfortunately, TNT was still able to find value shots and turned the table around.

- I am very intrigued with the passive play of Castro. In the 8-4 minutes of the game, he never went to the basket. He was the fuel to the three-point crunching of the Tropang Texters.

- On the other hand, Jericho Cruz was orchestrating for the Elasto Painters. The play at 12:41 (video time) should be run more by the Elasto Painters. They run it perfectly that an above-average shot was a guaranteed when Cruz reached the paint and with the height of Almazan.

- The game was close at the last four minutes. The teams were making right decisions. TNT went to their import inside. That jolted the Elasto Painters who had been defending a lot of three-point shots all throughout the game.

-  It was fun to see the vintage James Yap. I think, the biggest difference this conference was his aggressiveness going into the paint and not avoiding contacts.

- The play at 48 seconds of the game (22:25 video time) of TNT was very wise but Rain or Shine also did their due diligence. TNT forced a switch so that he will face Yap instead of Norwood. Rain or Shine made the right challenge though against Castro, avoiding the foul and I think they knew that Castro will not go straight to the basket.

- Unfortunately, Pogoy was heartless enough to pound a game-winning three off-the-ball and with a hand on his face.

- Overall, it was a great game. The key was TNT hitting their threes and Castro perfecting his role as a decoy. Rain or Shine went to James Yap during the game but they could have run more decoy plays off him.