Tim Cone was the least surprised after getting into a tough coaching battle with Pat Aquino during Barangay Ginebra’s eventual win over Blackwater to stay streaking in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup on Friday night.
It was actually the first time that the two veteran internationalists went up against one another in the pro ranks, but the league’s winningest mentor, it turns out, has long been a believer of the former Gilas Pilipinas Women mentor.
His admiration grew from one of the more recent Southeast Asian Games, a stage in which the former player turned bench tactician succeeded, as proven by his hat-trick of gold medals–the most that the women’s team has won.
“We were hanging out with the women’s team at that time, we could tell, and I even said it back then that I thought Pat Aquino was an incredible coach,” he said after their 115-108 victory at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“And I didn’t think everybody looked at that and said it because he’s coaching women.”
At one point, Cone and Aquino were at the forefront of the Gilas Men and Women programs, even sharing the same spotlight when the two steered their own teams to glory during the 2019 SEA Games held in Manila.
The Ginebra head coach would take about half a decade before being handed the reins to the men’s team and during that very stretch, the 54-year-old was busy pushing the distaff side to unprecedented heights in the global stage.
Aside from SEAG success, all Gilas Women programs, from the seniors all the way to the U18 and U16 squads, have earned Division A status in FIBA.
The women’s team would also compete in other prestigious tournaments, such as the recent FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifiers, which proved to be Aquino’s last run with the program before being surprisingly let go.
Still, Cone’s respect stayed the same, and he himself would witness firsthand how good a coach his counterpart is when they clashed in the PBA.
With a solid plan executed well, the Bossing raced to a hot 23-3 lead to start the ball game with the burly and towering Robert Upshaw III showing the way.
Although the Kings would eventually come out on top, it wasn’t easy at all, as they had to overcome a serious endgame threat by their foes behind momentum-shifting buckets by Stephen Holt and Nards Pinto from deep.
Cone would go on to give Aquino his flowers after the tightly contested ball game, which enabled the crowd darlings to stay in the Top Four hunt.
“Whether you play women’s or high school or college or pro or NBA, there’s something Erik Spoelstra always says: Basketball is basketball,” he said.
“And I knew that his skills, which you could see when he was translating to the women’s team, would very easily transfer here. And it’s shown,” he added.
“He was a hell of a coach back with the women’s team, I think he’s gonna be a hell of a coach here in the PBA.”
