BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone expects TNT to bounce back from its lackluster shooting in Game One of the 2023 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
The Gin Kings handily won, 102-90, on Sunday against a misfiring TNT side that shot an abysmal 9-of-35 from threes. The Tropang GIGA were so bad RR Pogoy went 1-of-5 from beyond the arc and Jayson Castro 0-of-3.
In contrast, Ginebra nailed 15 of its 36 shots from three-point distance, with Justin Brownlee going a perfect 5-of-5 in the first quarter.
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However, Cone said the Tropang GIGA are just too good of an offensive team that he expects them to find their range in Game Two on Wednesday.
“They didn’t have a great shooting night but they are going to have two to three games where they will shoot the lights out and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Cone. “[In Game One], it didn’t happen. We were able to control the game a little bit.”
The best shooter of the night for the Tropang GIGA was Mikey Williams, who had five threes but took 12 attempts to get there.
Cone said one of the reasons why TNT was able to shoot well in past games was because of import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson attracting the defense to him, allowing their outside shooters to get open looks.
“The guy is an NBA vet,” said Cone of Hollis-Jefferson. “He was five, six years in the NBA, averaged 14 points a game in one season, six rebounds. He is an absolute NBA stud. He doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses.
"Maybe he doesn’t shoot deep too often but around the basket, going to the basket, in transition, he is a real load. We are just trying to defend him the best we can, showing different players, different looks, help our guy when we can.”
“It’s hard to help because they have so many shooters on the floor. You don’t want to leave the shooters. They put you in a conundrum,” said Cone.
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