Rain or Shine prevailed in a fiery shootout against TNT and spoiled the 50-point debut of Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson and the career-high of Calvin Oftana with a gutsy 119-112 victory to punch a ticket to the playoffs in the 2023- 24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, Jan. 5.

The Elasto Painters proved to have more weapons in their arsenal, unloading a telling 11-0 run inside the final five minutes to outgun the Tropang Giga and pick up their fifth straight victory that capped a huge turnaround to their conference after opening it with five consecutive defeats.

Not only that Rain or Shine finally leveled its record with a 5-5 slate but also assured itself a spot in the playoffs even if it loses its remaining game against Converge and ended up tied with TNT and NLEX at the end of the eliminations.

The Elasto Painters hold an edge over the Tropang Giga who slid to No. 8 with the defeat and a 4-6 record, and the No. 9 Road Warriors who sport a 3-6 slate even if they ended up tied from seventh to ninth places with identical 5-6 cards.

NLEX, just like TNT, was also one of the victims of the Rain or Shine's fiery streak with the Elasto Painters coming away with a 113-103 decision.

With their playoff hopes at stake in the contest, the wards of head coach Yeng Guiao displayed unwavering resolve especially after losing control of the lead several times in the second half.

That resulted in the back-breaking run that turned a 104-106 deficit into a comfortable 115-106 cushion with 49 seconds left.

At the forefront of the attack was import Tree Treadwell, who, despite shooting miserably from the foul line all-game long, took care of two freebies that capped the run. He finished with 25 points and 24 rebounds that more than made up to his 5-of-17 clip from the foul line.

Andrei Caracut had 23 points, Rey Nambatac with 19 and Beau Belga with 16 to match the offensive flurry from TNT which leaned for the most part on the duo of Hollis-Jefferson and Oftana.

Rahlir, who took the place of injured brother and former TNT reinforcement Rondae, dropped 50 points and 16 rebounds to become only the fifth Tropang Giga player to breach the 50-point mark in their franchise history.

Oftana tried to provide help to Hollis-Jefferson with his own career-game of 37 points built on five triples. Their efforts, however, seemed to be not enough to alleviate the impact of the TNT’s depleted lineup that still missed the services of Poy Erram, Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy.