MANILA, Philippines -- Now that they have “crashed the gate”, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are eyeing to “party” with the big boys in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals. 

Rain or Shine punched its ticket to the All-Filipino conference’s Final Four after overcoming a twice-to-win disadvantage against the NLEX Road Warriors in the quarterfinals. 

Now, the Painters will turn their attention to the TNT Tropang 5G, who also overcame the same disadvantage against the Magnolia Hotshots. 

After their 103-92 victory Saturday evening, Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said that he feels the team is a “gatecrasher” with the stellar cast in the semis. 

“Wala namang kaming dadaanang iba. Ang dadaanan mo lang naman [sa All Filipino ay] TNT, Ginebra at San Miguel. So I'm really proud of these guys. Because now TNT is there, San Miguel is there, Ginebra is there. And then Rain or Shine is there,” he said. 

“Sino ba kami? Parang gatecrasher lang kami rito. Ang daming mas malaking mga kumpanya, mas maraming resources. Pero kami nakarating dito,” he added. 

“So gatecrasher kami, nagpaparty sila, pinapasok kami sa gate. 'Di magpapartyna rin kami.”

The Painters finished the elimination round with a 6-5 win-loss record. They capped off the elims with two straight losses but came alive in the quarterfinals to stamp their ticket to the next round. 

Guiao said that while TNT will be a tough matchup, as they are eyeing a Grand Slam, they will try their best. 

“Parang ang motto namin, 'Just show up, be there one of these days'. Maybe we’ll get to the next level. So dito lang kami. Basta susubukan lang namin kung ano yung kaya namin,” he said.

“TNT, champion team, going for a Grand Slam. But andyan kami, lalabanan namin sila, tignan natin kung saan yung aabutin namin. Yung sinasabi ko, bigay niyo lang lahat, todo niyo lang lahat every game,” he added. 

And as they did against NLEX, they will try to run their brand of game, which the coach labeled as “buwis buhay basketball”.  

“We run our style of play, we run our system. Put 100% effort into it. Bahala na kung ano yung resulta. So ganoon lang kami.” 

The two squads will battle it out in a best-of-seven series starting Wednesday, 5 p.m., at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.