Tim Cone anticipates a ‘tremendous series’ to unfold as Ginebra and Magnolia look to renew their long-standing rivalry in the 2022-23 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals starting Wednesday.
But he does not see the series living up to its lofty billing if his Kings will play the way they did against NorthPort in the quarters.
“I’m concerned because we didn’t play all that well tonight,” the league’s most successful mentor lamented after his crew disposed of the Batang Pier in Game Two of their best-of-three encounter, Saturday at the Philsports Arena.
Ginebra comes into the best-of-five series with the upper hand following its 103-97 triumph in their elimination round meeting last October 24.
Not only did the crowd darlings snap the Hotshots’ 5-0 start into the mid-season joust; they also scored their first win over their sister team in three years.
But Cone feels more concerned about the present, worried about their play after what he witnessed from the Barangay in the playoffs’ opening round.
Game Two alone saw the Kings trail 21-6 early, before getting their act together. They eventually took control of the match in the third canto through an 11-0 run behind Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, and LA Tenorio.
They went on to establish a 97-85 lead with under three minutes left, but could not break away completely. Instead, the Batang Pier came within four with 1:38 to play.
Ginebra needed Tenorio’s free throws to seal the 99-93 victory.
Cone definitely doesn’t want to see that against Magnolia, which used its win-once incentive versus Phoenix Super LPG to enter the semis.
“If we play like that against Magnolia, it’s not going to be much of a Clasico,” he said. “We got to really pick it up. As Scottie [Thompson] said, we had a letdown tonight, both at the start of the game and then even when we got ahead.
“We still had a lot of mental errors and that’s not really characteristic of our team, but it showed up today,” added the 64-year-old. “We got to be able to play back-to-back games in the playoffs a lot better than we did tonight.”
Another cause of concern for Cone is Nick Rakocevic, who’s been a major reason behind Magnolia’s top two finish in the eliminations with per-game norms of 24.1 points, 18.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.4 blocks.
Fourth in the Best Import race by eliminations’ end, the Serbian workhorse made life difficult for Ginebra in the last Clasico with 21 and 17.
“He gave us fits when we played him the first time around in the eliminations. He was dominant, especially on the boards,” he said. “We just couldn’t keep him off the boards. He’s not only long and tall, but he’s incredibly quick on the bounce.
“That’s something we’re going to have to take a look at and get a little better prepared for them than we were in the eliminations.”
Cone and Co. are bracing for one tough battle ahead, but the owner of 24 titles is looking forward to the series. He hopes as well to figure in another chapter of the famed rivalry with more of the teams’ faithful filling up the venues.
“We’ve had so many battles with that team, we know them well, they know us well. They know what we like to do,” the former Purefoods coach said.
“Hopefully the fans will come out and because it’s a Manila Clasico, it will be a loud gym and that will pump up both teams. I think it’s going to be a tremendous series,” he added.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
