Rain or Shine will be deploying an all-Filipino lineup when it wraps up its campaign against San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Philsports Arena.

Elasto Painters head coach Yeng Guiao told Daily Tribune that they will no longer field an import after they have been eliminated from the playoffs of this season-ending conference.

“We’ll play all-Filipino. We won’t bring in another import anymore as this will be our final game,” Guiao said in a telephone conversation.

“But just like how we prepare all our games, we prepare hard and try to win our last game. We don’t want to give the game to our opponent and the objective, of course, is always to go out there and win.”
It’s going to be the fourth time for Rain or Shine to play without a reinforcement.

The Elasto Painters, however, were still able to win one of those four matches — against lowly Terrafirma — but could only win one more game to wrap up their campaign with a 2-10 win-loss card.

Rain or Shine’s first import was Michael Qualls, a returning reinforcement who previously played for NorthPort and led the squad to a semifinals stint.

But Qualls couldn’t replicate the same success he had four years ago as he failed to give the Elasto Painters a win in four games he played with the squad where he averaged 26.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

The Elasto Painters brought in Greg Smith to replace Qualls, but they also had problem after he played only thrice in the four games with them due to his failure to secure a release from his previous team in Dominican Republic.

To make matters worse, Rain or Shine’s third import, Jordan Tolbert, couldn’t even play as well as he exceeded the 6-foot-6 height limit.