The TNT Tropang 5G is not your ordinary eighth seed—especially not to Tim Cone and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. In fact, the PBA’s winningest coach fully expected the Tropa to make their move in the playoffs and is now wary of what they can do in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
“I said that when we played them and beat them in the eliminations in a non‑bearing game, and they were going to be the eighth seed,” Cone said during Monday’s pre‑Finals presser at Novotel. “I said at that point that I’ll be the most surprised person in the room if they don’t make the Finals and we don’t see them again in the playoffs.”
TNT proved Cone right on Sunday, beating the Meralco Bolts in Game 6 to punch a ticket to their fifth straight Finals after an uneven and at times challenging start to the conference.
A Champion Team Starting to Play Like One
For Cone, the equation is simple. TNT is a champion team, and it is now starting to play like one.
“Eighth or (any seed), the fact that they are a championship team and they have been to the Finals four consecutive times before now doesn’t surprise me at all that they are here as the eighth seed,” Cone added. “They’re really starting to hit their stride. Then Bol Bol went down during the playoffs, and they brought in a guy [Chris McCullough] who knows how to win in this league, he is familiar with the league, he’s been a former Best Import awardee, and he looks like he is a really, really good fit.”
Cone is wrong in one part. CMac never won Best Import. In his previous stint with the San Miguel Beermen, he came in as a replacement for Charles Rhodes and put up monster numbers. But he lost out to TNT’s Terrence Jones for the Best Import plum.
But in everything else, Cone is right. TNT is indeed a champion team, winning the title in three of their previous four Finals appearances—all at the expense of Cone’s Ginebra. And the Tropa are starting to hit their stride, too, with RR Pogoy raising his game notches higher in these playoffs and Jordan Heading finding his rhythm after struggling all conference long. As for McCullough, he looks to be fitting right in at TNT.
Ginebra Is Facing a Team That Knows How to Win
Needless to say, Ginebra will be in for a gargantuan challenge when they take on what Cone describes as a team that “knows how to win championships.” The Gin Kings should know; they’ve finished runners‑up thrice already to TNT.
Ginebra and TNT open their tetralogy on Wednesday, June 3, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Tip‑off is at 7:30 p.m.
