ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Going back to square one

Going back to square one

Published Feb 2, 2025 06:19 am

At A Glance

  • While Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao admitted that Converge has the advantage in their best-of-three quarterfinals, he stressed that the playoffs is an entirely different animal and each team will be coming in in new clean slates.

It’s all back to square one in the playoffs.

While Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao admitted that Converge has the advantage in their best-of-three quarterfinals, he stressed that the playoffs is an entirely different animal and each team will be coming in new clean slates.

PBA Images8 (92).jpg

The FiberXers' winning streak in the eliminations or the Elasto Painters’ stretches of struggles hardly matter anymore as the two teams only need to be the first to reach two wins.

“Sabi ko nga 0-0 na ulit. ‘Yung mga win streak, losing streak wala na iyon. Panibagong umpisa na ito,” said the fiery mentor whose ROS managed to avoid being relegated to a do-or-die for the eighth spot following an important 106-96 win.

“Ang problema lang namin ngayon paano tatalunin ng dalawang beses ‘yung Converge. ‘Yung mga win streak, lose streak di mo na iisipin yon,” he added.

Guiao, however, believes Converge has become a formidable team this conference especially with the addition of Jordan Heading and top rookie pick Justin Baltazar.

“Ang laki ng nilakas ng Converge, magandang addition sa kanila si Balti. Magandang addition sa kanila si Heading tapos yung import nila terno dun sa nilalaro nila,” said Guiao.

The veteran coach said the No. 3 seed of Converge doesn’t really reflect the quality of its team which Guiao believes is even capable of finishing in the Top 2.

“I think Converge could have easily made first or second also kung hindi lang dun sa breaks, muntik na nilang nahabol yung San Miguel,” said Guiao.

“Kaya nilang mag 1 and 2 nasa No. 3 sila ngayon, parang yung kalaban namin 1 and 2 na rin. Kaya lang, this is best-of-three di kami agrabyado,” he added.

In their lone meeting this conference, the FiberXers frustrated the Elasto Painters, 103-96, a tight contest in which Converge pounced on the ejection of Guiao.

“Psychologically, they have an advantage over us but we’ll try to find a way to overcome that advantage. Pagdating naman ng quarterfinals 0-0 na lahat ibig sabihin you can throw everything that you achieved outside of the window and everybody starts on an even slate,” said Guiao.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.