Much to everyone’s surprise, Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone was not in a foul mood after Game Four of the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
“Hell of a game. It’s a great game. It was just a great game out there. Mark and Jay were out there, igniting the crowd. If you ask me before the series that the series would go 2-2, I would say I would like it,” a husky voiced Cone expressed after the game.
And the result of the game could have gone either way. But the final sequence of the game had everyone in attendance scratching their heads.
With 20 seconds remaining and Meralco clinging to an 85-83 lead, Sol Mercado was able to get a stop, swatting away an attempt by Jared Dillinger. Mercado though had a bad landing, leading to a four versus five disadvantage for Ginebra.
Aguilar threw an outlet to Justin Brownlee who then went on to throw up a floater with four seconds remaining. His shot though clung off the rim as time expired.
While all this was happening, Cone was on the bench trying to sue for time. However, league rules stipulate that only players that have possession of the ball can call for time.
“Yeah, we were trying to call a timeout but our players couldn’t see us. That’s the problem with the league rule that coaches can’t call timeouts,” Cone disclosed, “The crowd was crazy, they can’t hear you, you are yelling but the only guy who could call the timeout is the one handling the ball.
“The whole bench was calling for a timeout but sayang, we couldn’t call a timeout.”
Still, the winngest head coach in league history has no qualms about it, saying that he liked Brownlee’s final attempt that could have sent the game into overtime.
“As it turned out, we got a good shot, Justin was able to get a good floater that could have gone in. But that’s the problem, we could not set up and they [Meralco] could not set up their defense,” added Cone.
“We just wish that we had a better alternative.”
Safe to say, Cone no longer wants to think about the what if’s of the game as the series heads to the Philippine Arena.
