THE man who used to be on top of the basketball operations of Barangay Ginebra watched Game Two from ringside, saying "in a way, I'm just an ordinary Ginebra fan now."
And like all Kings fans, Tarlac Rep. Enrique 'Henry' Cojuangco is still hoping for an old-school Ginebra fightback.
“Of course, I am still hoping against hope (that Ginebra can come back in the series),” said the soft-spoken younger brother of San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo `Danding’ Cojuangco as he made his way out of the Mall of Asia Arena with his wife on Friday night.
Perhaps out of delicadeza, Cojuangco was hesitant to comment on the performance of the popular Gin Kings at the end of another ugly 90-104 rout that left them trailing Alaska, 0-2, in the Commissioner's Cup title series.
Cojuangco had overseen the backroom operations of Ginebra during some of the team's most famous victories, both during and after the time of the team's former player-coach Robert Jaworski.
The league's record books show the Ginebra franchise had suffered two championship series sweeps during its early years, first during the 1982 Third Conference (Open) against Toyota and in the 1983 All Filipino Cup by Crispa.
But the modern-day Gin King have never gone without a win in a title series, and Cojuangco hopes this batch still has a lot of fight left in it.
But to fight back, Cojuangco said Ginebra must play 48 minutes of consistent basketball.
“We played bad in the first and second quarter, while Alaska is playing really good," the Tarlac congressman said. "I hope the team can bounce back."
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