Seventeen minutes. That’s how long Anton Asistio was sitting on the bench before Yeng Guiao called his number with less than 10 seconds remaining and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters down, 111-108, to the Titan Ultra Giant Risers, on Sunday’s PBA Philippine Cup action.
It was a curious decision, to say the least, to put an ice-cold player back into the heat of battle. It’s even more curious to actually design a make-or-break play for the same player. In that case, that player, again, was Anton Asistio—and he rewarded Guiao’s trust by drawing a foul while shooting a four-pointer and then hitting the four free throws to give Rain or Shine the lead, 112-111, and ultimately the win.
“We designed that last play for Anton, but we did not really anticipate that it was going to be a four-point shot. We thought that a three was enough,” Guiao said after his Elasto Painters eked out a win against the Giant Risers on Sunday. “But it was Anton, just with his natural intelligence siguro, to shoot the four. But we knew they were going to foul…”
Yep, Anton Asistio knew indeed, and he got that foul from Joshua Munzon for those four pressure-packed freebies with two seconds left.
No Doubting Anton Asistio
Not a lot of coaches would do what Guiao did: call on someone fresh off the bench to take a potential game-tying or game-winning shot with just ticks on the clock left. But Guiao is anything but conventional, so it might not be that surprising he went that route. It certainly helps that the fiery tactician and the entire Rain or Shine squad have absolute faith in Anton Asistio.
“We were very confident that Anton would step up and make at least three of those four…,” Guiao told reporters. “Actually, Anton was cold off the bench kasi medyo matagal siyang nagpahinga. Pero we knew that that setup was really what Anton is good at. So, binigay namin sa kaniya ‘yung opportunity na ‘yun.”
Anton Asistio grabbed that opportunity. And he delivered. He snatched victory from the jaws of defeat—all because his coach, his teammates, and everybody else trusted him with the moment.
Watch the full game highlights here:
