BARANGAY Ginebra on Sunday wrapped up a five-game stretch to start the season where the Gin Kings faced some of the playoff contenders in the PBA 50th Season Philippine Cup.
The Gin Kings began the conference with games against Magnolia, TNT, Meralco, San Miguel, and NLEX. Those are two sister teams in the San Miguel Corporation bloc and three squads from the rival MVP Group.
“We saw that schedule,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said. “It never happened before that I can remember, opening the season against those five big teams.”
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The result was a 2-3 win-loss records with the victories coming at the expense of TNT, 92-77, last October 18, and NLEX, 104-74, last November 2.
Though not exactly happy with coming out with only a pair of victories to start the conference, Cone said he expected the Gin Kings to stagger a bit as they negotiated the tough schedule. But a turnaround looks on the horizon after its 30-point win over the Road Warriors.
“We were prepared mentally that we knew we might struggle early and that our record may not be where we want it to be. But if (Sunday) is any indication and you never know because every game is different, but (against NLEX), we put a good one together. We can continue to do that. Maybe we can go on a little bit of a run and get back into the conference,” said Cone.
“But if we were like 3-0 and 4-0, and then had this stretch of five teams, probably nobody would have mentioned anything or thought anything. But having them at the beginning of the season and having to go through that gauntlet early especially since we were like the last team back to practice, I’m not happy with the 2-3 record, but it’s survivable for us.”
“I would prefer 3-2 and 4-1 obviously, but that might be too much to ask against all those teams. Hopefully, we get to the playoffs and give them a chance at it,” said Cone.
Cone said having gone through those five teams doesn’t mean that their next schedule would be easy. After facing bottom team Titan Ultra on Sunday, Ginebra’s slate also includes upstart teams Converge and Rain or Shine.
“Obviously, they’re [Converge] playing extremely well. And I think we’ve seen on any given night, any team can beat anybody. Terrafirma turned around and beat NLEX after NLEX beat San Miguel. Phoenix turned around and beat San Miguel also.
"So all the teams, I think anybody can beat anybody on any given night. And it’s just a matter of preparedness and readiness. And that’s going to be key for us as we go forward,” said Cone.
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