TIM Cone gave credit where credit is due, acknowledging TNT’s defense made life difficult for Barangay Ginebra in a 95-89 loss in the opener of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday night.
Obviously, it wasn’t the result the Kings wanted as the Tropang Giga jumped the gun on them by firing a total of eight three pointers in the opening period while holding down Ginebra to a 40 percent shooting overall (33-of-81).
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“We got a little bit confused out there because of their defense, they defended really well as usual,” said Cone, the look of frustration very obvious in his face as he emerged from the Barangay Ginebra dugout.
“We got to step up our defense as well. We made way too many defensive mistakes.”
The Tropang Giga’s scorching 57 percent shooting from three-point range in the first quarter – three courtesy of Roger Pogoy and two by veteran and former MVP Kelly Williams – set the tone for Game One of the best-of-seven series played before a crowd of 11,802 fans - the first match to be played at MoA Arena in 10 months.
In all, TNT went 14-of-37 from beyond the arc (37 percent) with Pogoy scoring all of his 15 points from the same area including 2 more in the second half where the Tropang Giga led by as much as 57-39.
Ginebra meanwhile made just 25 percent of its shots from the three-point arc (7-of-28).
“We have to understand that this is going to be a lot tougher series than it was the last one,” said Cone, referring to the Governors’ Cup Finals where TNT beat Ginebra in six games including the opener, 104-88, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
“It’s Game One. It’s not what we wanted. We’ll deal with it and we’ll move forward,” added the Ginebra coach. “I’m kind of getting tired of saying, ‘We're outplayed, we’re outcoached.’ I get tired of saying that, so we got to change the narrative.”
Game 2 is set on Sunday also at MoA.
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