Norman Black airs side on Game Three’s end-game spat with Tim Cone

Meralco head coach Norman Black did not comment any further regarding Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head mentor Tim Cone’s refusal to shake his hand after Game Three on Wednesday night, which the Bolts won, 94-81.

Cone’s refusal to acknowledge his counterpart stems from the timeout called by Black in the game’s final 30 seconds, when everything is all but decided. He was clearly infuriated as he gave Black a mad stare.

“I think everybody knows that Tim is the all-time leader in championships in the PBA. I’ve never in my life made any effort to tell him how to coach his team, so I don’t need any help coaching mine,” Black said moments after the tussle.

“He didn’t shake my hand because he was mad about the last timeout. That’s his problem not mine,” he added.

It was clear that the 59-year-old mentor does not want that issue to spoil their Wednesday night, as he and the Bolts have avoided a deep 0-3 hole in the race-to-four clash.

“The game becomes a lot easier if you can make shots, if you can knock down your outside shots. Today we did a good job of making our perimeter shots,” lauded Black, as the Bolts finally clicked from three-point territory, shooting 11.

“[And] Our defense was pretty solid, just like it was last game. But the difference is we played the defense for 48 minutes instead of just 44.”

Cone immediately left the SMART Araneta Coliseum and did not hold any post-game press conference.