BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone fired a series of tweets on Monday to explain his frame of mind entering a game against sister team San Miguel Beer inside the PBA Philippine Cup bubble the night before.
Cone and the Gin Kings came under fire from fans accusing them of 'aiding' a sister team under the SMC umbrella after a game which the Beermen won handily, 81-66, to get their bid for a playoff berth back on track.
But more than the loss, fans on social media zeroed in on Cone's substitution pattern as Ginebra's leading scorer, Stanley Pringle, played just 18 minutes while rarely used players like Raymond Aguilar finished a game that was still winnable in the final minutes.
Cone spoke at length about the loss in an interview with SPIN.ph on Sunday night and turned to social media the morning after to clear up a few more points,
The two-time grand slam winner made two things clear: Ginebra's approach in its final two games against San Miguel and Terrafirma would be focused on what he called the 'big picture.'
Secondly, Cone admitted that Ginebra 'didn't show up for SMB and that was disappointing and unacceptable.' He added: "truly apologize to the fans if what we did was construed differently."
Here's his statement in full:
'Our thoughts going into SMB game: 1. If we lose both of our last two games, we're not assured of Top 4 finish. 2. We had to make a decision. If we fall behind early, we're going to rest guys that were banged up: Stan, Jap, LA, JD. We weren't going to risk losing two games trying to fight back in one game. Playing 5 games in 7 days was a real concern. 3. Being down 17 at the half, I said we would observe our starters in the first few minutes and determine if we would stay with them or go with the second group. It was the second group with Scottie that brought us back to within 3 pts. 4. Ultimately, our guys didn't show up for SMB and that was disappointing and unacceptable. They know that. But that's also on me. I didn't prepare them well. We'll see who shows up for Terrafirma tonight. 5. It's always on me to see the Big Picture. Hopefully, I'm doing that. I truly apologize to the fans if what we did was construed differently.'
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