BARANGAY Ginebra may have failed to close out its PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals series with San Miguel, but that didn’t stop Tim Cone from giving the Kings a tap on their backs after giving the Beermen a huge scare until the final buzzer of Game 3.
“I’m proud of the way we played. I’m proud of the way we battled,” said the champion coach on the heels of the 101-98 thriller San Miguel pulled off against Ginebra in Dasmarinas City, Cavite on Tuesday night to stave outright elimination in the best-of-five showdown.
“Hopefully, we can bring that same battle, but this time we can hit some shots and handle the ball better in Game 4.”
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The Kings fell by as many as 15 points, but made their way back especially in the fourth quarter behind the hot hands of sophomore guard RJ Abarrientos.
The Kings twice had a shot at sending the game into overtime or win it outright.
But Scottie Thompson misfired a game-tying three, and Abarrientos’ game-winning four hit the back rim of the goal as the Beermen heaved a huge sigh of relief as they lived to fight another day.
“We had a couple of decent looks of tying the game and even the 4 of RJ to win it, but it didn’t go in,” said Cone of the missed chances by Ginebra at endgame.
Cone consoled himself by the fact that despite the Kings not playing at their best, they were there all the way to the homestretch and almost stole the game away from the Beermen for a sweep of the series.
“We have fumblitis, we missed layups, we missed a bunch of free throws, calls didn’t seem to go our way,” he noted.
“I mean there’s a lot of reasons for us to just quit, let the game go, and just look forward to Game 4. But our guys continue to battle and battle.”
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