IT takes a lot to win a grand slam. And that includes luck.
That’s the belief of Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone after the Gin Kings ended the bid of San Miguel to win a second grand slam for the historic franchise by beating the Beermen, 100-97, on Sunday in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup.
“People don’t know hard it is and how, I hate to use the word because I’ve been there and I won a couple, lucky you have to be,” said Cone. “I don’t want to say I was lucky. But you have to have luck. You really do. You have to have luck to win grand slam. I was fortunate to have some luck with my teams.”

Cone won two grand slams in two different eras, winning the first one with Alaska in 1996. He did it again in 2014 this time with San Mig Coffee. But the coach admitted breaks also came his way when he won the second grand slam.
“It takes a lot. Everything has to come together and win a grand slam. You have to have the breaks like tonight. I remember when we won a grand slam against Rain or Shine, they had two wide-open three-point shots to beat us to win the game.
“Paul Lee and Jeff Chan, ironically, and they missed them both. What are the odds of that. They were literally all wide open. There was nobody within 15 feet of them. Ball kicked out to them, they had two wide-open three-point shots.
"That’s the difference between winning a grand slam and losing a grand slam. Everything has to come together perfectly. You’ve got to be able to be injury-free, you don’t lose an Arwind Santos, and that’s why it’s just so difficult,” said Cone.

Cone’s team earned the victory to stop the grand slam bid, with Justin Brownlee pouring in 41 points in their slim three-point win over the Beermen. The Gin Kings will face either NLEX or NorthPort in the best-of-five semifinals.
When asked if winning the grand slam now is even more difficult than before, Cone said: “I just think it’s hard to win a grand slam. I don’t care what decade you are in. It’s really, really difficult to win a grand slam. I mean, it was 19 years, 1996 to 2014 between grand slams and then there was 2014. We haven’t won one ever since even though San Miguel’s been the dominant team.”
“I wouldn’t say it is even more difficult than it was then, 2014 was the last time they won one. Only four and a half years ago. It’s just really hard,” Cone said.
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