Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao is leaning on their strong start to still capture the twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals even during this rough stretch of games in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) 50 Commissioner's Cup.

The Elasto Painters have now lost three of the last four games including Sunday's 114-90 defeat against Barangay Ginebra. Both teams are now in a deadlock at second place with an 8-3 win-loss record.

Photo: PBA Images

Rain or Shine could still lose the twice-to-beat advantage with another defeat as it goes up against Titan Ultra on Friday. 

But Guiao is confident that they can already secure the incentive.

“This is where you are benefiting from the good start. We had a seven-game winning streak. Now, we have a margin for error. We still have one game to take our ninth win and that's against Titan. Hopefully, we can come back and win our ninth game and be assured of being in the top four. After that, it's preparation for the playoffs,” said Guiao.

Guiao rued the way Barangay Ginebra shot the three-ball last Sunday, making 21 shots from the perimeter to lose by 24 points.

“We just have to move forward from this. I don't think we can't do anything about it. They shot the ball really well. On our side, we couldn't execute the way we wanted to. I think we have to give credit to their defense,” said Guiao.

“Our record is still good. The only thing important is to get to nine wins, get the twice-to-beat, and wait for our match-up,” he added.