BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone knows his team has the responsibility to always bring its best to every single game to make its legions of fans proud.
But the coach with the most championships in the PBA knows the Gin Kings sometimes have to take one step back for them to take two steps forward – even at the expense of fans’ approval ratings.
Looking back on his team’s controversial elimination-round loss to San Miguel in the PBA bubble last November that sparked “Sagip Kapamilya” accusations, Cone reiterated his mindset entering the matchup, saying they were playing the “smart game” to keep them fresh for the more important games ahead.
Coming off back-to-back games on a Monday and Tuesday, the league-leading Gin Kings were bracing for another set of consecutive games on a Thursday against SMB and Friday against Terrafirma.
Then with a 7-2 record, Ginebra needed only one win in its last two games to book the top seed in the playoffs. The Beermen, on the other hand, were sporting a 5-4 slate and a loss could’ve pushed the then-defending champions to the cusp of elimination.
“They were at the verge of death, so mentally, our players knew at that point that we needed to win one, so they had that cushion going into the San Miguel game,” Cone said in a SPIN Zoom In episode last May 6. “San Miguel was coming in with the idea that they were desperate and had to win, so already, they had a great advantage over us in terms of motivation, in terms of pressure.”

“I came in with the idea that ‘if we were going to come in and beat San Miguel with all that stuff that we were behind on them, because they were so motivated and we knew we had an extra day… and we were totally exhausted at that point.”
“So my idea going into that game was, ‘Okay, we will give San Miguel a shot, we’ll try to beat them if we can. But the moment we – in my mind – it looks like we’re not going to be able to beat them, then I’m going to make sure our focus is on Terrafirma, because we knew we could beat Terrafirma,” he added.
True enough, the Beermen, missing June Mar Fajardo, came out in desperation mode as they used a 15-0 blast in the second quarter to give them a lead sizeable enough to withstand the Gin Kings’ third-quarter comeback attempt, eventually rolling to an 81-66 win.
Stanley Pringle played just 19 minutes, while backcourt partner LA Tenorio was scoreless after missing all his seven shots.
“For us to beat San Miguel, we need to be at the very top of our game,” Cone said. “So for us, what happens if we try to win that game and we try and try and try, and we’re already tired, and we get exhausted, then we open ourselves up to losing also to Terrafirma so would you rather gamble or take advantage of the sure thing?
“It had nothing to do with them being San Miguel. It would’ve been Talk ‘N Text, it would’ve been another. I didn’t care who it would’ve been,” he added. “We were going to win the game we needed to win, because ultimately, what are we going to be judged on? Are we going to be judged on that one game or are we going to be judged on the championship?”
Cone understands where the fans were coming from as they speculated the Gin Kings giving way to their sister team.
“It was a tough decision,” Cone admitted. “I know the fans would not like it. I knew that they would be upset. I didn’t know that they’d be that upset, because I thought they would be upset at us losing the game the way we did, not to who we lost to. I didn’t think about it being San Miguel. It just happened to be San Miguel.
“And I was surprised at the backlash,” he added. “And then I realized it wasn’t about us losing, it was about us losing to San Miguel in a game they needed to win, so it looked like we were giving it to them. We certainly weren’t giving it to them. But we were not going to risk ourselves losing a championship by having to go all-out against San Miguel. I was just trying to play smart basketball. Thankfully, we look back on it now, it was the right decision.”
After all, the Gin Kings eventually rolled past Terrafirma, 102-80, to clinch the No. 1 seed, eliminated Rain or Shine in one game in the quarterfinals, outlasted Meralco in five games in the semifinals, before conquering TNT in five games in the championship series to grab their first all-Filipino title since 2007 and 13th overall.
Moving forward, Cone is reminding Ginebra fans how the Gin Kings love to beat their sister teams.
“I don’t buy in to that San Miguel family stuff at all,” Cone insisted. “Our biggest rival, it’s not Talk ‘N Text, it’s not Alaska, it’s not Rain or Shine. Our biggest rival is San Miguel. Our biggest rival after San Miguel is Purefoods. We are always competing for the attention of the big boss, so there’s a real, big rivalry.”
“Our players actually don’t like the San Miguel players, and I know the San Miguel players don’t like our players. I know that. I hear them talk. So if we’re trying to do things for them, it doesn’t happen. It really doesn’t, not unless it can help us, which it did at that point,” he concluded.
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