RoS newbies get golden chances

Rain or Shine (RoS) head coach Yeng Guiao is focused on making his bench deeper by giving his newbies more minutes on the floor in another historic night that pushed the Elasto Painters’ unbeaten run in the Philippine Basketball Association Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup to seven.

The fiery mentor gambled on his rookies and got the result he wanted as they provided the lift off the bench in the Elasto Painters’ 124-117 victory over Terrafirma on Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.

Athur Roque, Vince Cuajao and Joshua David contributed well on both ends of the floor in the match where RoS poured 22 triples and one four-pointer to tie four other teams for the league-record of most made field goals from beyond the arc.

“Of course, it’s always a risky move. But at the same time, they won’t elevate their game if I don’t give them a chance in a live game situation,” Guiao said.

Roque played 20 minutes and had an efficient night with 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field including three triples while pulling down four rebounds.

Cuajao scored all of his nine points off three treys while David had three markers coming from a three-pointer and added two assists with both players logging in almost 11 minutes of action.

“I see them in practice, they’re hard workers and they deserve a chance. The minutes I gave them earlier, they worked for it. I’m happy with their performance,” Guiao said.

The tactician seized the opportunity to give his neophytes more game experience to build their confidence as the quarterfinals-bound Elasto Painters aim to secure a twice-to-beat advantage in their last five elimination round assignments.

“I thought I could take the risk of playing our rookies more minutes and give them game experience. It will toughen them up for the future,” Guiao explained.