BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone revealed the game plan of the team for the quarterfinal matchup against TNT is mainly to contain Mikey Williams.
Ginebra game plan vs Mikey Williams
Cone said the Gin Kings got the benefit of four days before Wednesday’s start of the quarterfinal series of the PBA Governors’ Cup to prepare for ways to limit the offensive output of the high-scoring TNT rookie.
The strategies worked as Barangay Ginebra overhauled TNT’s twice-to-beat advantage to make it to the semifinals.
“I thought that was one of the big reason we were able to win Game One of this series,” said Cone. “Because we had time. We had four days and we prepared really hard for those four days.”
“We came up with a game plan for Mikey Williams and that was basically our game plan – try to find a way to slow down Mikey. But we had four days to hone that game plan. Not just figure it out but hone it.”
“It’s one thing that you get one day of preparation. You figure out a game plan but you don’t have time to work it. Everybody knows exactly what they are doing, but when you have three or four days, you can really hone that game plan and make it really tight. That was our goal and gave us a chance to win that first game,” said Cone.
Williams averaged 18 points during the two games but only combined for 11-of-34 from the field after being closely guarded by Scottie Thompson and Nards Pinto in the series. He made seven out of 19 threes in the series, but his numbers weren’t enough to carry TNT to victory.
Compounding TNT’s woes was that it was forced to change its import with Leon Gilmore III replacing Aaron Fuller.
“We just tried to make it as difficult as we could. We tried to make him get to places that he doesn’t normally [go to]. We have a shot chart for him. We know where he likes to shoot. We tried not to get to those areas where he is most successful,” said Cone.
Cone was glad that its defense pulled through, something that was missing in the conference.
“As well as Scottie and Nards played on him, it was really a team defensive effort and that’s what I mean by game plan. When you have a game plan, it’s not about just guarding Mikey. It’s about five guys who will guard him. I thought we executed our defense.”
“We’ve been really bad defensively this whole conference. It’s really unusual for a Tim Cone-coached team. I’ve always been a defensive-oriented coach. But this conference, we’ve been on top on the offense and bottom on the defense,” said Cone.
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