RAIN or Shine might have started really well in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup, but coach Yeng Guiao knows it’s only going to get a whole lot tougher moving forward.

The Elasto Painters are currently tied with TNT, NLEX and Magnolia atop the team standings with a 4-1 record, but Guiao knows that they need to be even better entering the second half of their schedule in the conference.

Up next for Guiao and his boys is Phoenix, before taking on NLEX, TNT and Converge, three teams who are keeping in step with them atop the standings.

“Marami pa,” Guiao said when asked for points of improvement after their solid start to the conference. “Actually, yung second half ng schedule namin yun ang mas mabigat. Di pa talaga ito siguro yung test na makakapagsabi kung makakapasok kami ng playoffs o hindi.”

The most important thing for Guiao, at least for now, is the health of his players as they’ve missed the services of forward Caelan Tiongson over the last three games due to a hamstring injury.

They’re also yet to banner free agent acquisition Stanley Pringle with the high-scoring guard still dealing with a knee soreness.

“We’re trying to be in full force the next few games. Medyo inaabangan nalang namin yung pagbabalik ni Stanley at ni Caelan,” he said.

“Mabuti nalang si Santi [Santillan] nagsstep up because yung mga puntos na yun, yun yung mga nangagaling kay Caelan so natatakpan namin yung butas na yun,” he said of his forward who dropped 26 points in their win over Terrafirma.

The good news for Rain or Shine is that the two might be suiting up soon, with Pringle expected to play next Wednesday when they take on Phoenix, while Guiao hopes that Tiongson is ready to suit up against NLEX on Sunday.

But while Guiao believes there’s still a lot of things to work on for his squad, he’s nonetheless proud with his team for reaching their ‘short term’ goal of winning at least three games despite the absences of some of their stars.

“Tinignan namin yung schedule namin ng October, sabi namin for October we’ll be playing five games, it would be good if we can finish mga 4-1. Realistically 4-1 or 3-2 would still be good,” he said.

“4-1 is good for us at this point even if we’re missing key players. May potential pa na mag improve.”

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