TIM Cone admitted feeling embarrassed with Barangay Ginebra’s series-opener loss to Meralco in their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals match up.
Cone on Ginebra's do-or-die situation
Except for a brief spell, the Kings trailed the Bolts most of the way and even fell behind by as many as 21 points before making the score a little bit respectable in the endgame, 93-82.
Still, a loss remains a loss.
“A 30-point loss is the same as a one-point loss in the playoffs. Whether we lost by 10, 20, or 30, or even one point, it’s still the same. We’re still down, 1-0,” Cone pointed out.
“We just didn’t play well at any facet of the game.”
It was the second one-sided loss the Bolts dealt the Kings in a two-week stretch, something which didn’t escape the attention of Cone.
Meralco defeated Ginebra, 90-73, last July 13, in a game where Cone wasn’t around and deputy Richard Del Rosario was the one who called the shots for the Kings.
“Just a repeat of the elimination game. So obviously they’re doing something that is causing us some problems. So we have to try and figure that out,” according to Cone.
A bit of concern for Cone was the team’s bench failing to contribute in the Game 1 loss, especially with starting guard LA Tenorio ending up with a rare scoreless stint and the starting unit accounting for more than half of the team’s total output.
Tenorio came in averaging 10.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game this conference.
“A lot of our bench didn’t step up. We need them to step up and play well in the playoffs, and we didn’t get that,” noted Cone.
Game 2 is scheduled Friday at the Filoil EcoOil Arena in San Juan, giving the Kings a fairly good enough time to adjust and get back in the best-of-three series.
“Good news is that we have time to prepare and work on it, so we’ll spend the four days trying to get ready for Game 2. After that, let’s see what happens. But right not we’ve just got one game to play,” said the Ginebra coach.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
