MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters drew strength from their struggles in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup to have a decent start in the ongoing 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup.
Painters guard James Yap said that their grueling offseason work is slowly playing dividends as a result of their 4-1 start, which includes wins over heavyweights Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings and defending champions San Miguel Beermen.
“Hindi kami masyado nakapag-pahinga nung offseason, halos tuluy-tuloy ‘yung practice namin,” the Escalante City, Negros Occidental-native Yap said. “Pumunta kaming Bahrain, naglaro kami dun, mga kalaban namin tatlong import.”
He added: “Nung na-out kami last conference, ‘di naman namin makakalimutan ‘yun. Every practice, nakikita ko lahat kami focused kasi kailangan bumawi. Alam namin lahat ng player kung anong pakiramdam nung ma-out.”
Personally, the two-time PBA MVP said he will doing extra shots after practices to make sure that he can deliver every time Painters head coach Carlos Garcia will insert him in the game.
“Ako naman kasi, ready lang. Nagpapa-kondisyon naman ako sa sarili ko, before practice nagpa-play ako. Sinabihan din ako ni coach na ready ako this conference, so tumatak sa isip ko ‘yun,” Yap said./PN
