Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao can see the big difference between Eastern and Bay Area Dragons, the last two guest teams to play in the PBA.

While the new guest team looked to be equally formidable based on its last two games, Guiao pointed out that the size and depth of the Dragons made it a more complete team.

“Palagay ko alam naman natin na mas malalim yung bench ng Bay Area. Mas malaki yung import nila tapos meron silang pamalit na import na maliit na gwardya na unstoppable din,” said Guiao referring to the two imports of the Dragons in Andrew Nicholson and Myles Powell.

“Mas malaki talaga problema mo dun sa Bay Area,” he added as Rain or Shine pulled off a 99-81 win over Eastern.

The Dragons made the Finals of the Commissioner’s Cup two seasons ago, only losing to Barangay Ginebra in the historic Game 7 that set the league’s record number of audience at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

Of course, that is not to say that Eastern is not a quality team. For one, three of the Bay Area’s core players in Glen Yang, Kobey Lam and Hayden Blankley. Guiao just believes PBA teams have the better chance at competing and beating the Eastern.

“At least ito, although nanalo na sila ng dalawa, alam mo na pagkakalaban mo sila medyo mas parehas pa rin yung laban. Pero malakas pa rin sila. 2-0 agad sila. Good start agad,” added Guiao.

The Eastern, for its part, somehow agreed to the views of the veteran PBA coach.

In an earlier interview with Blankley, the do-it-all Eastern forward stressed that the current PBA guest team is an entirely different team to what the Bay Area was.

“It’s a very different team. As you guys know, the Bay Area team was blessed with some Mainland Chinese players that were all probably six and above, some seven-footers. This team, not so much," said Blankley.

“While we still have a little bit of size advantage at some positions, it’s pretty comparable to the Philippines, so now it’s a lot more competitive on that end. The Filipino teams can definitely challenge us any night and not have to worry about us being just bigger or anything like that,” he added.