WHEN Chot Reyes and Yeng Guiao compete in the sidelines in the PBA playoffs for the third straight semifinals, and fourth consecutive overall in the 49th Season Philippine Cup, it will be a coaching match-up that began more than three decades ago.

The two coaches squared off for the first time shortly after Reyes was installed as head coach in 1993, or 32 years ago, by the Purefoods franchise at a time where Guiao was already in the PBA with the RFM franchise.

A research by PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon showed Reyes and Guiao have met in 104 games overall – elimination round, playoffs, and finals combined – with Reyes winning 62 matches and Guiao coming out victorious in 42, prior to Game 1 of the 49th Season Philippine Cup semifinals between Rain or Shine and TNT.

The match-up has spanned through different squads with Reyes also holding coaching positions at Coke, Sta. Lucia, Pop Cola/Swift/Sunkist of the RFM franchise, and Guiao being with Red Bull, Burger King, Air21, and NLEX.

Between now and 1993 where Guiao and Reyes first battled on the bench, the two also ended up in positions outside the PBA coaching circle.

Reyes was once part of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) as its executive director for a brief time, while Guiao was a commissioner of the Philippine Basketball League during the late 1990s.

But somehow, their paths would once again cross at some point in the PBA. After their roles in the MBA and PBL, the two returned to the league in 2000 when Guiao coached expansion team Red Bull and Reyes took over Pop Cola, a team from the RFM franchise where Guiao started his PBA coaching career.

Guiao and Reyes meet again in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals. PHOTO: Mark Cristino

Their coaching careers also have similarities beginning with the two coaches being once part of the Gilas Pilipinas national team. Guiao replaced Reyes after he stepped down in 2018 in an offshoot of the brawl that involved between the Philippines and Australia in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers of July of that year.

Aside from being with the RFM franchise on separate occasions, Reyes and Guiao also became part of one conglomerate with the MVP Group when Guiao became the coach of NLEX from 2016 to 2022.

Despite the many times they’ve meet each other, the Reyes-Guiao coaching match-up only saw one finals match-up with Guiao winning that tussle against Reyes when he guided Swift to the 1993 Commissioner’s Cup finals against Purefoods. The fact that they have only met once in the finals may have also made the Reyes vs. Guiao match-up an underrated one even with their sustained success.

That pales in comparison to Reyes' recent match-up with Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, a coach he has faced eight times in the finals.

When Guiao's ROS squads reached the finals against TNT during the 2010s, it was either against Norman Black or Jong Uichico with Guiao coming out on the losing end.

But with the way TNT and Rain or Shine have been playing over the last few conferences, we may see Reyes and Guiao battle each other as bench tacticians in the finals sooner rather than later.

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