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| Paul Lee |
PAUL Lee was as good as advertised, helping Rain or Shine get off to a rousing start in the PBA
Philippine Cup and making coach Yeng Guiao recover somewhat from an act of vandalism on his car back
in Pampanga.
With the No. 2 overall pick either scoring or dishing off, the Elasto Painters hurdled the Barangay
Ginebra Kings, 94-93, Sunday in the lone match ushering in the 37th season of the league at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The former University of the East and PBL star wound up with gamehighs of 21 points and eight
assists in his PBA debut coming off the bench as Rain or Shine managed to escape with the win
despite a blown 16-point lead.
“It’s a big win for us,” said Guiao. “First day, first game, medyo me konting jitters pa.
It’s good thing we had a good lead coming into the endgame. We’d take that.”
Guiao also gave special mention to Lee, who missed all his six tries from beyond the arc but atoned
by going 7-for-9 from both the two-point area and the stripes.
“Paul Lee played a great game,” said Guiao. “He’s physically tough, mentally tough. He’s
just special. You cannot coach that. Galing talaga sa kanya iyon.”
Lee said it was actually the Ginebra fans that got him going for good.
“Sa akin gusto ko underdog. Mas masarap maglaro pag underdog,” said the 6-foot-1 combo guard.
”College pa lang underdog na kami kaya sanay na sa pressure. Basta nilaro ko lang ang game ko.”
Some thieves got into Guiao’s car by breaking its windows while he was having lunch, taking his
attaché case containing some papers and what should have been his coaching uniform.
The ordeal the E-Painters went through later in the day made Guiao just shrug off the Pampanga
incident.
Ginebra came roaring back from 16 points down in the fourth period and had the chance to tie it when
JC Intal was awarded three free throws off a foul by JR Quinahan, only 1.3 ticks remaining.
Intal and Jayjay Helterbrand were actually the ones who spearheaded Ginebra’s comeback, combiningfor 14 points in the fourth canto, with the former’s short jumper making it a 91-93 count, still
41 ticks left.
After Intal made the first two of his charities, the third rattled out and John Wilson’s followup
before the final buzzer proved a tad long, prompting Guiao to let out a huge sigh of relief.
Intal and Mark Caguioa each had 16 points to pace Ginebra, which played minus Eric Menk, who is
suffering from a pulled calf muscle.
Jayjay Helterbrand added 11 points but the Kings still failed to sustain a fine start that had them
scoring the season’s first seven points and racing to an early 11-2 lead.
Lee’s scoring actually tapered off in the last two quarters, where he notched only eight points.
But he had plenty of support in that area.
Jeffrei Chan scored 18 points, including 12 in the third period, while Gabe Norwood added five of
his 11 and Jervy Cruz four of his eight in the fourth.
Lee and Chan capped their scoring with charities, with the latter’s split making it 94-91, 20.8
seconds remaining.
Lee only scored four points in the third period but assisted five times, with the last two helping
break the E-Painters away from a tight contest and into a 77-62 spread going into the final quarter.
Norwood got his scoreing groove in the early fourth, scoring five points during a 10-3 run to make
it 87-71, 7:43 to go.
With Caguioa and Helterbrand doing the most damage, the Kings charged back from a 41-52 deficit and
threatened to within 52-54. They were still within 54-57, when Chan and Quinahan starred in a fiery
16-3 surge that gave the E-Painters that 15-point cushion.
The scores:
Rain or Shine 94 - Lee 21, Chan 18, Norwood 11, Buenafe 10, Cruz 8, Quinahan 7, Matias 6, Belga 4,
Rodriguez 4, Ibanes 4, Arana 1.
Ginebra 93 - Intal 16, Caguioa 16, Helterbrand 11, Tubid 8, Cortez 8, Wilson J. 6, Canaleta 6,
Villanueva 6, Labagala 5, Mamaril 5, Wilson W. 4, De Ocampo 2, Cervantes 0.
Quarters: 20-19, 44-37, 77-62, 94-93
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