Patience is a virtue.

Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao never doubted his men despite going down 0-4 to start their campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

The Elasto Painters recovered from early misfortunes after winning five straight and eventually securing a quarterfinals seat.

“I didn’t lose hope but of course, sometimes you’ll really get frustrated,” Guiao bared after Rain or Shine blew out skidding NLEX, 120-104, to formalize its playoffs entry Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

“You can see the team’s potential but we can’t translate it in games. We had good practices, we can’t say anything about our players’ good work ethics, very professional and hard working. I expected what we do in practice will translate into our games (but didn’t).”

The Elasto Painters also had to deal with big man Keith Datu suffering a right knee injury that had him sidelined for seven games.

Seasoned center Beau Belga stepped up in his stead as the 16-year veteran paced Rain or Shine on offense and displayed great leadership.

The Elasto Painters’ collective effort also paid off as they finished the eliminations with a 6-5 win-loss record that locked them in the best-of-three playoffs.

Rain or Shine’s resurgence saved it from slipping into the precarious seventh to eighth position which would mean a twice-to-win disadvantage in the quarters.

“But we just kept our patience and now we’re reaping the rewards,” Guiao said.

“Maybe it wasn’t the right time for us at the start. Last conference we started 0-5 but we’re able to recover. This time, we started 0-4 before rallying back so it showed that we did improve a bit,” he added in jest.

Rain or Shine is looking to sustain its run in the next round with Datu back in the fold. The bruiser had six markers, three rebounds and a block in his return in the Elasto Painters’ last outing.

Guiao is confident his team will go deep in the playoffs.

“Let’s see where our fate would take us,” he said.