BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone lauded the fighting spirit of the players in Game Three that led to completing a sweep of the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals against San Miguel.
Cone on Ginebra's Game 3 comeback
The Gin Kings overhauled an 18-point deficit to beat the Beermen, 87-85, to reach the finals for the fifth time in the last six editions of the conference.
Cone admitted he, at one time, was already leaning towards pulling out his key players and rest them for Game Four after the Beermen took a 62-44 lead in the third quarter.
But Cone said he never saw the face of dejection from his players, who slowly but surely clawed their way back until Christian Standhardinger scored a short stab with four seconds to play in the contest after a pass by Justin Brownlee.
“It was a real struggle out there,” said Cone. “To be honest, the coaching staff, I was just wondering if we pull our guys out and live to fight another day on Friday or keep going at it. That was my battle throughout the third and the fourth quarter. But they just kept showing their will.”
“I was looking for them to stop and give up a little bit. But they never did and I stayed with them and again, we live through this kid,” said Cone, referring to Scottie Thompson after he also fueled that Ginebra comeback and finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists.
In that comeback, Ginebra outscored San Miguel, 29-15, in the fourth with Standhardinger scoring eight in the quarter and Brownlee, Thompson, and Jeremiah Gray contributing six apiece.
“I was looking for that and it just didn’t come out. I stayed with them and made a couple of big shots, nice stops, and before you know it, we suddenly won the game. It was like we were down by 47 minutes and probably 50 seconds and we only led by like the last 10 seconds,” said Cone.
“I was ready to give up on that one at various times in the game. But the players wouldn’t quit. If I may borrow from coach Sonny, it was NSD at its finest. Never say die,” said Cone.
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