Tim Cone and the Barangay Ginebra Kings were given a taste of their own medicine by Leo Austria and the San Miguel Beermen.
Right after Game 1 ended, Austria and the Beermen had their heads down. Their 28-point Game 1 loss to the Gin Kings had humbled them.
“We’ve been humiliated by the Ginebra, ano. We were out-coached,” lamented Austria, moments after the game.
Knowing that San Miguel had vengeance on their minds, Cone made sure to prep his boys well. He repeated over and over again that the defending champions are capable of bouncing back big time.
“It’s funny because we talked about it, and we knew, we talked about how they could turn the tables on us and come back and do the same thing we did to them in Game One,” recalled Cone, a 20-time PBA champion.
“We talked about it and talked about it and talked about it, and… But I don’t think we really believed they could, and they did.”
Two days later, San Miguel flipped the script, pounding Ginebra on all fronts. Five of San Miguel’s players scored at least 20 points in the contest, while leading by as much as 31 points.
Simply put: they humiliated Ginebra.
“Nice bawi from San Miguel, they really came back at us.
“This team is, they are who they are for a reason, and that kind of got sent to us, that message sent to us strong and clear. They basically, the soundbites you’re gonna get is the same that Coach Leo was talking to you afterwards. I mean, I think he used the word ‘humiliating’. I feel the same way today,” Cone added.
Still, Cone saw a silver lining.
Behind a brave third quarter stand by Joe Devance, Sol Mercado, and Brownlee, the Gin Kings were able to cut the lead down to as low as 19 points – something that Tim Cone lauded.
“Our guys battled, even though we were down twenty, they continued to battle. When you get down by that many points, and it just seems the ball is bouncing to them every time but we kept battling, and I’m real proud of our guys for that part of it,” he said.
“We battled even though we were down big numbers, and we never really gave up the fight. Until it was too late, I guess, with like three minutes or four minutes to go, it was too late, obviously.”
After the events of the first two games, Cone is bracing for a tough Game Three.
“So we got one blowout, they got one blowout, so we’ll see what happens in Game Three. Usually that means it’s gonna be a nice tight game in Game Three, both teams will be coming out ready to go.”
