Game Five was a grind for all the protagonists involved.
For 48 minutes, the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the San Miguel Beermen exchanged leads, baskets, and a few jabs at one another.
It was a war of attrition that saw the Gin Kings come out on top, 87-83.
But as the slugfest ensued, Ginebra’s chief strategist Tim Cone could not enjoy the action on the sidelines. He was suffering from food poisoning. But just like Japeth Aguilar, he had to soldier it out.
“I’m under the weather, I’m not feeling well. It’s food poisoning, I’ve had food poisoning all day long, so I’m a little shaky and a little weak,” disclosed the winningest head coach in league history.
With Cone suffering his own battle, his deputies – led by Richard del Rosario – took charge. And the veteran mentor was all praises for them, as they did a spectacular job on subbing in for him.
“I leaned a lot on my staff today especially Richard.
“He did a great job, because I was a lot of the time, I was out of it, he was the one doing a lot of the coaching,” beamed Cone.
Sometimes, even coaches have to have good substitutes.
