BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone is proud of the way his team earned their way to a finals spot in the PBA Season 46 Governors’ Cup with all the adversity it went through.
Cone on how far Ginebra has come
Injuries have mostly been the story of the Kings this conference, which led to a four-game losing streak that put their bid to make it to the playoffs in jeopardy. They made it as the sixth seed, but put together a magnificent run en route to the finals by beating TNT and NLEX in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“We came from the number six seed and we barely got to the number six seed. We had to win three of our last four just to get to the sixth seed,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Incidentally, in the four-game losing streak it had during the elimination round, two of which were against their possible opponent for the finals in Magnolia and Meralco, which will square off one final time in Game Five of their own semifinal series.
“We had that bad stretch where we lost four in a row to really, really tough teams. The two teams [Magnolia and Meralco], we lost there and then we followed it up with Talk ‘N Text and San Miguel. It was like a murderer’s row when we didn’t perform the way we wanted to perform.”
Eventually, Cone said the team settled down and came together thanks to the leadership provided by their veterans.
“I remember being real down at that point… But I think the leadership took over. LA [Tenorio], Joe [Devance], and a bunch of guys, got together and decide to put it away and move forward. And here we are in the finals. We never would have thought back then during that four-game losing streak that we would reach the finals. So yes, we are very proud of what these guys did,” said Cone.
Cone said Ginebra simply refused to give up even with the host of injuries that were key players to the team led by Stanley Pringle and, later, Japeth Aguilar.
“They had many reasons to quit at certain points in the conference. You get discouraged but they kept battling all the way through. We played without Stanley. That’s a number one excuse if you don’t do well. And then in the playoffs, we didn’t have Japeth. Just excuse that we could have used. And they didn’t. Next man up,” said Cone.
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.
