Rain or Shine aims to sustain its winning ways when it tackles defending champion Meralco in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, Sunday, April 27.

The Elasto Painters will have to rely on what they do best – speeding up the game – especially that they remain shorthanded at the frontline with Beau Belga and Keith Datu expected to be out in the 5 p.m. affair against the Bolts.

Quickly following suit in the second game is an equally entertaining clash between industry rivals TNT and Converge at 7:30 p.m.

Trying to hide the huge hole on their frontcourt which will be mostly relying on Leonard Santillan and Caelan Tiongson – both of whom were forced to play out of positions – head coach Yeng Guiao stressed that his wards need to keep the pace up to offset their lack of size.

“We know we are at a disadvantage in size so the pressure now is on us to be able to play our strong suit, which is playing with a lot more pace to offset our lack of height," said Guiao whose ROS is coming off a morale-boosting 113-96 win over NorthPort.

And the only way for them to run is for the Elasto Painters to make stops on the defensive end.

"We also need to defend better kasi hindi lang 'yung bigs malalaki sila sa amin. Pati mga guards nila, mga wings nila. They were already bigger than us even before we lost our bigs,” he stressed.

Everything should be easier said than done however especially with the Bolts looking to display the sense of urgency after absorbing back-to-back losses at the hands of San Miguel and Phoenix.

Though there’s a need for Meralco to make a move now and get their groove going, head coach Luigi Trillo insisted that it’s still not yet the time to press the panic button.

"The guys are moving well. Parang we put in the work this past week and sana ma-translate sa magandang ipapakita," said Trillo, whose Bolts are fresh from a 13-day respite after already playing four games in the first two weeks of the tournament.

"Against Rain or Shine you have to be at your best. They play hard, they push the pace, they put you on your heels, they don't wait for you to set up and, at the same time, maganda depensa," explained Trillo.