Llamados welcome back Raymundo vs Painters; Kings, Aces clash

Rain or Shine doesn’t have the luxury of time to savor its entry to the quarterfinals of the PBA Fiesta Cup. Just 48 hours after eliminating the Coca-Cola Tigers, the Elasto Painters plunge back imto action again in Game 1 of their best-of-five series against a well-rested, but banged-up B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados squad, which will welcome the return of Kerby Raymundo. But Raymundo’s entry doesn’t mean the Llamados have a clean bill of health. Several players are playing in pain right now, which include controversial shooting guard James Yap, Roger Yap, Marc Pingris and Raffi Reavis. Even Raymundo, who will be playing his first game since Game 4 of the Philippine Cup finals against Alaska, has yet to recover fully from an injury he suffered on his pelvis. Yes, a full force Llamados side that features the comebacking Kerby Raymundo. “Yes, Kerby will be playing on Friday’s start of the quarterfinal series," said B-Meg Derby Ace coach Ryan Gregorio. “But the idea is to give him limited minutes. We cannot expect the same Kerby Raymundo right away. He will be playing his first game of the conference and it won’t be easy for him to get himself back in the groove of things." “His minutes will be managed. It will be a slow integration since he hasn’t played in nearly three months," he added. Raymundo joined the team in his first formal workout on Monday, just three days after the Llamados lost a playoff for the second outright semifinals berth to defending champion San Miguel Beer. But while the comeback of Raymundo is definitely a most welcome one for Derby Ace, Pingris, one of the team’s key players, will also play limited minutes since a slight tear in his thigh (right) muscle has been discovered. “He (Pingris) has been advised to rest since Saturday and hopefully it is enough for him to be ready on Friday," said Gregorio. Still, the Llamados remain very much the favored team in the 5 p.m. encounter at the Araneta Coliseum against a Rain or Shine side that needed to survive the wild card stage just to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time. The Elasto Painters ousted Leroy Hickerson and Air21, 92-89, and then slammed the door on Coca-Cola, 98-93, to set up the quarterfinals showdown with the third-seeded Llamados. “We had two hard-earned wins and hopefully, it could help us mentally knowing that we can play and win with pressure. We just have to share the ball more on offense and play good team defense," said Rain or Shine mentor Caloy Garcia. This marks the second quarterfinals meeting between the two teams. In the last Philippine Cup, Derby Ace, then known as Purefoods, went up against Rain or Shine and was dragged to a deciding fifth game before prevailing. The main game at 7:30 p.m. features the opener of the similar quarterfinals series between no. 4 Alaska and fifth-seeded Barangay Ginebra. The rematch between the two teams that tangled in the semifinals of the last Philippine Cup pits ‘size versus speed’, according to Aces coach Tim Cone. “Game One always sets the tone of a series, especially in a short one," said Cone. “It’s really a match up between size and speed, so we’ll have to control tempo and get the ball inside to exploit our size." Alaska swept the Kings in that Final Four encounter, 4-0, although the teams split their head-to-head meeting this conference. But the Kings have shown tremendous improvement based on their last game against Rain or Shine, 115-88, in a playoff for the last quarterfinals berth. New Ginebra import Chris Daniels debuted with 19 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, three steals, two blocks with no turnovers in the lopsided win. Also adding spice to the match up is the presence of star players Willie Miller and Cyrus Baguio, who were the major pieces in a one-on-one trade the Aces and Kings consummated this conference. - RCJ, GMANews.TV