BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone hailed Blackwater coach Pat Aquino, import Robert Upshaw, and the rest of the Bossing for making Friday's win very difficult for them.
The Gins defeated the Bossing, 115-108, but had to earn it after Upshaw exploded for 43 points in Aquino's fourth game as new head coach.
“Mr. Upshaw, and I'm calling him Mr. Upshaw, he is a man,” said Cone. “He is a very large human being and he knows how to use his body and he moves well. He is awesome. We just had a hard time handling Mr. Upshaw.”
READ: Pinto trey helps Ginebra survive Blackwater, Upshaw's 43 points
Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, and even Justin Brownlee took turns in guarding the 7-foot Blackwater behemoth, aad even prior to the game, they knew that it was going to be a hard task.
“When we watched him on video against San Miguel, we were commenting that June Mar looked like a little boy next to him. And we look like little boys next to June Mar. It's almost like we are babies to Mr. Upshaw. It was tough,” said Cone.
Cone gives coach Pat his flowers
Cone said Upshaw was in full strength with Aquino knowing how to use his pieces.
“Got to give a lot of credit to Coach Pat Aquino. He's got those guys turned on. He is playing his personnel really well. His rotations are great. He kept Mr. Upshaw on the bench just long enough to keep him fresh and I thought he did a heck of a job,” Cone shared.
Barangay Ginebra played catch up after a 23-3 Blackwater start. But even after taking the drivers’ seat in the later part of the game, the Gins still needed a clutch three from second-stringer Nards Pinto to hold off the Bossing.
“We always say that those starts are like artificial. It's like one team just isn't making shots all of a sudden. But we just told the guys to let's locked in to the defense. We will figure them out offensively. The shots will start to fall. But we had to lock in defensively, which we weren't,” said Cone.
“Big guy (Upshaw) came out, hit two four-pointers right in the beginning of the game. And then Tratter hit a three-pointer from the corner. We knew Mr. Upshaw can shoot four-pointers. We saw that against San Miguel and in previous games. But still, it was quite surprising. Even though you know he is going to make it, then he does.”
“To me, we had opportunities in the third quarter to really break the game open. But Blackwater showed great character to stay in the game. They actually took the lead in the fourth. It was a true struggle not because we didn't play well, but because Blackwater played great,” said Cone.
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