AFTER letting his deputies do the talking late, Tim Cone hopes to find the right words that will help Barangay Ginebra restore order in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Gin Kings coach explained his decision to let assistant coaches Richard del Rosario, Olsen Racela, and Kirk Collier call the shots midway through the third quarter of the game against Terrafirma on Sunday that ended in a 91-85 loss.
READ Del Rosario explains decision to keep C-Stan, Pringle on the bench
“I just felt like, from a team standpoint, I felt like they weren’t responding well to my voice,” Cone said a day later during their outreach program at Kids International Ministries.
“They’re getting tired of hearing me, so I decided to give them a different voice. At certain points of the game, they responded very well,” he added.
“But still, we need more work,” the two-time grand slam coach continued. “We’re not happy. I’m sure the fans aren’t happy and they shouldn’t be happy. We know that. These guys care and we’re going to do something about it.”
Cone continued to reflect after Ginebra suffered back-to-back losses in three days that dropped the crowd darlings to a 3-3 record and into the middle of the 12-team pack.
“We’re scrapping the bottom of the barrel right now,” he said. “We’re not playing good basketball. We know that. Our chemistry is in shambles at this point. We need to fix it. There’s a lot of things to fix.”
But Cone feels it’s normal for teams that are used to winning to find themselves in a rut. The Gin Kings are coming off a semifinal appearance in the Commissioner’s Cup and reached the finals twice last season.
“I think all teams literally go through this at some point over a course of a year or a couple of years. We just need to rethink what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and go what that.”
“Good news is: we have time,” he was quick to add. “The playoffs don’t start tomorrow. We got to get back to work and recover our chemistry.”
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