SELDOM does Tim Cone complain about PBA officiating.
And this is one rare exception where game officials came under fire from the league’s winningest coach.
The Barangay Ginebra mentor slammed the four-man crew who officiated Game 2 of the Commissioner’s Cup finals against defending champion TNT, referring to them as being ‘terrible.’
READ: Hot-starting TNT holds off Ginebra to even finals series
“We didn’t get a break from the referees. I thought it was a terrible crew tonight,” said Cone on his way out of the Smart Araneta Coliseum following the Kings’ 101-94 loss that evened the best-of-seven title series at one-game apiece.
“I usually don’t complain about referees after a game. That’s one thing I don’t know if I did. But tonight, I just felt the crew was not a good crew. And they got to have a better crew the next time out.”
The 68-year-old mentor blasted the free-throw disparity, with import Justin Brownlee getting a grand total of four free throws despite his aggression.
Brownlee made all four of his free throws as the Kings shot 10 in total and made nine. In contrast, TNT was 22-of-25 from the same area.
Ginebra was also called for a total of 24 fouls to TNT’s 16.
“Justin had four free throws. He took only three 3-point shots, and yet he only got four free throws. He’ll go into the rim, he’ll stay around the basket, but he wasn’t getting the call all night,” said Cone
But the veteran coach isn’t putting the entire fault on the referees, admitting the Kings also had their share of the blame.
“But that came down to the fact that we just didn’t show up tonight,” said Cone, whose team trailed by as many as 22 points early in the fourth quarter.
“And at the beginning of the game, we had three assists in the first and zero assist in the second quarter. That’s not just us.”
PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III said the three assists of Ginebra in the first half was the fewest by a Cone-handled team in 26 years or since Alaska also had three in an 82-65 loss to Tanduay in the 2000 All-Filipino Cup.
Cone however, is giving credit where it is due.
“Tip your cap to TNT with their defense, they switched well, they jumped out well. And we’ve got to find some answers,” he added.
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