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    Cone says latest PBA title was toughest to win because of Goorjian

    Cone finds a worthy adversary: 'Brian's really special'
    Jan 16, 2023
    tim cone game 7 ginebra vs bay area dragons
    PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

    BOCAUE, Bulacan – Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup will go down as the toughest to win after overcoming Bay Area mentor Brian Goorjian in the finals series.

    Cone said he was left amazed at the coaching of Goorjian throughout the series that Barangay Ginebra had to make several adjustments in order to overcome the Dragons.

    The Gin Kings defeated the Dragons, 114-99, on Sunday in front of an all-time PBA record of 54,589 spectators at the Philippine Arena in Game Seven. Cone captured his 25th PBA crown with the victory.

    READ: Philippine Arena mistakenly congratulates 'champions' Bay Area

    “Without a doubt,” said Cone when asked if the championship was the toughest. “Brian Goorjian is really special. I can honestly say that.”

    Cone said the coaching staff also had to deal with a lot of adjustments throughout the series especially with Bay Area losing Andrew Nicholson due to an ankle sprain, and Myles Powell stepping in in the final two games of the finals.

    “He had to go through basically three different line-ups through this series. One with Nicholson, and he played one way, then he played all-Chinese and he played one way. And they came with Powell and played another way.

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      "His team stayed in their flow and when they lost Nicholson, the spirit was incredible, their motor really lifted instead of (going) down. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. Powell came off in Game Six and played a wonderful game. But I felt that we could adjust to him a lot better,” said Cone.

      After Game Six, Cone said he would have wanted to play Game Seven in the original schedule of Friday, instead of Sunday. But eventually, Cone was able to take advantage of the extra days off.

      “The three days off gave us a little bit more time to adjust to him and the way they play with him,” said Cone.

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      The more he watched videos, the more he was impressed with Goorjian's coaching, Cone said.

      “I looked at that video over and over again, we really studied what the other coaches were doing. And when you go into a series, that’s where you really can get impressed by a coach because of the adjustments," Cone said.

      "The things they did taking advantage of where Justin was guarding, he always changes his offense depending on who Justin [Brownlee] was guarding, and where they put [Hayden] Blankley, where he put [Kobey] Lam, and how they adjusted to them. When [Glenn] Yang went out, their adjustments were there.”

      “Had me head scratching when I watched the video. He was really, really impressive and it was hard to keep up,” said Cone.

      The Ginebra coach said in the end, having a relatively healthier line-up compared to Bay Area proved a big swing factor in Game Seven.

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      “The bottom line was we had the healthier line-up I think and they didn’t. If they had a healthier line-up all the way through, I don’t know if I’m at this podium right now,” said Cone.

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      PHOTO: Jerome Ascano
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