THE heart of a champion, the never-say-die spirit.
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone expressed eagerness to play out the PBA Philippine Cup wherever it takes so long as games would not be hindered and action in the season-opening meet will continue.
“We need to do what we have to do. Anything we can do to keep on going, we’re gonna do,” said the champion coach, “Whether it means driving down to Mindanao every day, taking the ferry, just taking down there and play, and comeback, we’ll do whatever it takes.”
Batangas bubble
Cone made the statement amid the PBA plans of bringing the games to Batangas from Pasig as the National Capital Region (NCR) will be placed under the strictest lockdown by the government starting August 6 due to the spike of COVID-19 cases.
At the moment, the league is still awaiting the response of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on its request to hold its games in Lipa City under a mini-bubble setup until such time the lockdown will be eased off in Metro Manila.
Majority of the teams, including Barangay Ginebra, made Batangas its training ground for more than two months when the PBA was finally allowed to hold 5-on-5 scrimmages prior to the start of the season.
Difficult and tedious the experience was, Cone doesn’t mind doing it all over again if it meant games would be allowed to continue.
“I don’t think there’s anything for us that’s hard to do. We all want to play, we all want to keep going and we understand the situation of the government and the city, and we understand the idea of the Delta variant. But if they can find a way to keep playing, we’re not gonna complain,” said the 63-year-old mentor of the reigning all-Filipino champion.
“We’re certainly not going to complain. Games are hard, and add a few hardships to it, same game,” he added. “So just the teams that handle it the best, and keep a positive attitude about things are the ones who’s gonna be victorious.”
Cone made known that his desire to go on with the games was not his alone, but also shared by the entire Ginebra team.
“I think going to that locker room, you ask all 15 guys, and they’ll say the same thing. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep playing,” he said.
“Whatever happens, happens. We’ll play.”
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