MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters recovered from a poor start to score 109-100 against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 2 of their 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinal series Thursday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Reginald Johnson waxed hot in the second half to finish with a near triple-double – 25 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists – for Painters, which leveled the race-to-three matches 1-1.
James Yap continued his fine play with 18 points, including three 3-point conversions, while Gabe Norwood, Chris Tiu and Raymond Almazan also supplied double-figure performances with 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Just like in the series-opener Sunday, Painters started flat and was behind by as much as 14 points before making a run behind Yap, Tiu and Eduardo Daquioag to tie the count at 57-all at the half.
Painters continued its run early in the third to take a 67-62 lead on baskets from Johnson. Ginebra was quick to respond to regain an 80-76 lead but a trey from Johnson and back-to-back hits from Mark Borboran tied the count at 87-all.
Rain or Shine went on for a 92-87 advantage early in the fourth after a triple by Rey Nambatac. Kings quickly erased this with 5 straight points from Justin Brownlee before surging to an 84-82 lead on an inside basket by Greg Slaughter.
Both teams traded leads until Kings led for the last time 100-97 on a trey by Jeff Chan. Painters went on a 12-0 finishing run behind Yap, Norwood and Johnson for its largest lead at 9 points.
Brownlee finished with double-double 29 points and 12 rebounds, Slaughter added 20 markers, while LA Tenorio contributed 17 points for Kings, which played without injured big man Japeth Aguilar./PN
