BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone apologized to Rain or Shine big man Beau Belga over a verbal spat in the third quarter of a 2021 PBA Philippine Cup match on Wednesday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym.
Cone and Belga were seen having a brief verbal exchange after the latter was called for a foul on Christian Standhardinger at the 6:14 mark of the third quarter. The rugged RoS big man was later slapped a technical foul for second motion.
The two, however, were quick to move on from the incident as Cone and Belga were seen talking after the Gin Kings' 83-77 win over the Elastopainters.
Cone said he apologized to Belga for getting angry over the hard foul on Standhardinger.
“I went over and apologized,” said Cone. “I said I shouldn’t be doing that. The opposition coach shouldn’t be saying something like that and I just apologized to him for what I said earlier. I just got mad at him for giving a second motion to Christian.”
The Ginebra coach said he always has a high regard for Belga, who he considers as one of the most intelligent players he has seen, comparable to one of his players when he won his first grand slam with Alaska in 1996.
“Beau and I have a good relationship,” Cone said. “No one plays a smarter game, I think, in my last 30 years of coaching. I think Beau might be the smartest player. I have to give maybe a little bit of an edge to Bong Hawkins.
“But Bong and Beau are the two smartest players I’ve ever seen play in the PBA, just in terms of pure intelligence and I appreciate Beau’s game,” said Cone.
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