SHORTLY after Barangay Ginebra pulled off a dramatic victory over TNT in Game 5, head coach Tim Cone entered their locker room to tell his squad that there won’t be any celebration.
The Gin Kings were fresh from a 100-95 win over the Tropang 5G in Game 5 when Cone briefly spoke to the team, very much aware, based on recent experience, that the championship isn’t in the bag yet even with a 3-2 lead in the finals series.
“I went to the locker room and just said, ‘Hey, we are not celebrating,’” said Cone. “You can’t celebrate a game like this. As much as you would like to, we can’t celebrate a game like this. You just got to put it away and move forward.”
READ: Cone no longer minds being 'Justin-centric' - so long as they win
Just last season, Barangay Ginebra was also up, 3-2, in the 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup finals after a 73-66 win in Game 5 last March 23, 2025, only for TNT to pull off two straight victories in close fashion by a similar scoreline of 87-83, with Game 7 going to overtime.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and eventual Finals MVP Rey Nambatac were one of the central figures in that TNT comeback as Barangay Ginebra failed to cash in on the title, that would have been their first since the 2022-23 Commissioner’s Cup conquest against the Bay Area Dragons.
“We’ve been here before leading 3-2 especially against this team. They’ve come back and beat us twice,” said Cone.
Justin Brownlee carried Barangay Ginebra on his shoulders by scoring a career-high 54 points and played in all but two of the possible 53 minutes on the court in Game 5.
The fact that Brownlee played 51 minutes in Game 5 also worries Cone as he only has one full day to rest and recover for the possible title clincher.
“At this point, we expended so much effort. Justin expended so much effort in this game. You’ve got to favor Talk ‘N Text coming into Game 6. We have to find a way to overcome that,” Cone said.
Cone expects little changes to how TNT defends Justin Brownlee, which is to play him 1-on-1.
“The way they are defending us is putting the pressure on Justin to carry us. They are making him isolate, deny everybody else out. As much as I would like to get a little less Justin-centric, the way they are defending us puts us in the spot where he needs to take advantage of the match-up that he has.”
“We are going at it. He is going at it, and just hope that he will have enough energy to continue to do that for Game 6 and, possibly, Game 7."
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