BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone wasn’t exactly satisfied with his team’s opening game of the PBA Philippine Cup against Terrafirma.
The Gin Kings opened the new conference with a 101-80 win over the Dyip last Wednesday, but Cone felt the team played good enough to take the victory, but not at a level that he had desired.
READ: Japeth dominates Terrafirma to lead Ginebra to first PH Cup win
Ginebra will definitely need to be at its best when it goes up against San Miguel on Friday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Gametime is at 7:30 p.m.
“I just thought we played a solid game,” said Cone. “[It] wasn’t great. We played solid. A little sloppy at times. But it’s a first game for us.”
“Hopefully, we can tighten things up and we will be better in the second game,” said Cone.
San Miguel comes to the Ginebra game with a 2-1 win-loss slate, and was upended by Magnolia in overtime, 98-95, two last week at the Big Dome.
If there is something that Ginebra can work on is to protect the ball better. The Gin Kings had 16 turnovers, three more than the Dyip.
“We need to be [better], going up against San Miguel. It’s always the all-Filipino favorites. We know we have our work cut out on us on Friday,” Cone added.
Japeth Aguilar got off to a strong start on Wednesday when he had 30 points and seven rebounds. But Aguilar will now have to play against June Mar Fajardo on Friday.
“June Mar is always the target. You’ve got to figure out how to handle him, how much are we going to allow him to dominate the game, and you have to pick your poison with their shooters. A lot goes into it. It’s tough when you only have one day to prepare,” said Cone.
“It’s still early in the conference, and we are hoping that we can come back, and play a little better game [against San Miguel] which we think we need to in order to stay with San Miguel,” said Cone.
Cone said Ginebra is not yet sharp with the short preparation after coming off the Commissioner’s Cup finals.
The Gin Kings were also unable to play a tune-up game in the lead-up to the Philippine Cup, which opened on April 4 or exactly 19 days before their first match of the new conference.
“This is the problem with coming in late into the conference. You are not as sharp as the other teams. You do get a longer break which is important for our guys, and be able to rest our bodies, and stay away from injuries. But still, when you get back, the games get a lot faster, and you have to make up for that time," he said.
“It’s a two-edged sword. And you are playing teams that have rhythm already, they already made some adjustments to the game, to their rotation. We haven’t able to do that yet. We didn’t have any practice game, just like Talk ‘N Text," he added.
"We just came in and start playing right away. It’s hard to start the conference when you come in this late. But we have to do it that way in order to get rest our players’ bodies."
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.
