Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone hopes that Sunday’s come-from-behind win over Terrafirma will be of help in the team’s quest of itself and solutions to what has been a challenging ride for the perennial contenders.
The Gin Kings came from 22 down and beat the Dyip, 112-107, to chalk up their second win in a row in the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup — their first streak since starting the season-ending tilt with three straight victories.
“Like I said, we’ve been trying to find ourselves. We’ve been doing this for a conference and a half, trying to find ourselves,” he said after the match at the Ynares Center. “And so, it doesn’t surprise me that we struggle.
“But I think we’ll eventually get out of here, get out of this situation where we’re in, where we’re still trying to find ourselves. And I think again, this game and this second half that we played will help us out a lot in terms of that.”
It’s been quite a tough journey for the defending champs not just in this conference, but even in the 2021 Philippine Cup as well where they failed to defend the crown after losing to eventual champs TNT in the quarters.
And that’s mainly because of the obstacles that came their way, from injuries to COVID-19. And the former has been hounding the team up to now, with the likes of Stanley Pringle and Jared Dillinger both ruled out of the season.
Missing the 2020 Philippine Cup BPC and Dillinger, Aljon Mariano, Joe Devance, and Mark Caguioa were big for Ginebra, thus the four-game skid they got into. But the standings are something Cone doesn’t look at nor discuss.
Because for the 23-time champion coach, his main concern, really, is the process — the process of approaching each game with the aim of winning.
“We know our situation, no doubt about it. But it’s not something we focus on or talk about. We’re really concerned about the process, how we’re gonna play, the effort level we’re gonna play in,” he said.
“Those are the things that we worry about. So when people ask me how you felt about the standings, I get kind of confused, ’cause I don’t think about it too much. Because it’s really just about this game, let’s just worry about this game.”
And even if the Barangay have improved their chances that could bring them up in the rankings, the approach will remain the same, said Cone.
“We know we need help to make the top four. We know we need help from other teams. But like I said before the game to the players, it doesn’t matter if we get help or not if we don’t take care of our own business, and win our own games,” Cone said.
“So we got to keep winning. We got NLEX next, who’s playing really good basketball. So we gotta figure out a way to lift our game to match up to NLEX and stay in the fight.”
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