Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach Tim Cone admitted that Juami Tiongson was a primary target of theirs on defense when the Gin Kings battled Terrafirma in 2021 PBA Philippine Cup action, Friday in Bacolor.
That’s because the 30-year-old guard was coming off a stellar performance versus San Miguel Beer two days prior, as he unloaded a new career-high of 29 points to power his Dyip to a thrilling 110-104 breakthrough victory.
“He was our target going into the game because he had 29 points against San Miguel,” he told Radyo5’s Power and Play, Saturday.
Cone said they devised schemes for Tiongson in particular, but none of them was able to contain the heady playmaker, He went on to erupt for a new career-best 31 points aided by nine treys to lead Terrafirma to the 95-90 win.
“Despite being a target, he found his way to 31 points. We had our best defenders at him, we had schemes for him. But it wasn’t good enough.”
Such a great outing, however, did not come as a surprise anymore for Cone. According to him, the Barangay actually tried to trade for him after the all-Filipino conference last year, only to be turned down.
“Juami didn’t surprise us. We tried to trade for him after the last bubble. We made some overtures to Terrafirma to try to get Juami over to Ginebra,” he said.
“They turned us down, they wouldn’t let us have him.
“We made an effort to get him. We were really excited about him,” added the league’s only 23-time champion coach.
Tiongson was among the Dyip’s top players in the Clark bubble last year, being one of their bright spots in a disappointing 1-10 campaign.
The Ateneo product played in all of their assignments and posted averages of 13.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.5 steals.
“In the last bubble, I thought he played extremely well. He was kinda under the radar because Terrafirma wasn’t winning games, and of course, he was playing behind CJ Perez,” Cone offered.
At present, Tiongson has per-game norms of 18.8 markers on a 43-percent clip from the field, on top of 5.2 dimes, 2.8 boards, and 1.7 steals, taking the lead for a Dyip team that does not have Joshua Munzon and Roosevelt Adams.
“But with Munzon out, and CJ Perez traded, Juami has become the man and he’s shown he’s capable.”
