Tim Cone took full accountability over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s 2-4 start to the PBA Governors’ Cup, noting how he didn’t coach very well in that span. The league’s winningest coach was particularly sorry to his Justin Brownlee replacement Riley Grigsby, whom he feels he let down.
“I just told the guys after the game that I was sorry because I just don’t feel like I’ve coached very well over these last six games,” Cone said after Ginebra lost to the Meralco Bolts, 97-88, in the last playdate of the tournament before the long break. “I feel bad for Riley because I just haven’t done a good job over these last six games. I’m a little worn out or whatever or distracted, but I need to be better, we need to be better.”
Ginebra opened the conference with an 81-78 loss to the Phoenix Fuel Masters before bouncing back with a 115-85 dismantling of the Blackwater Bossing. However, the barangay went 1-3 thereafter, including that listless loss to the Bolts on Friday.
‘We Didn’t Play Like a Championship Team,’ Says Cone
Cone didn’t mince words in admitting his and Ginebra’s shortcomings, particularly to Grigsby.
“These have been a tough stretch for us, but we know the better times are coming ahead of us. Again, I just wish I had done better for Riley. He’s such a good guy,” Cone stressed. “We really wanted to play better for him and we didn’t, and I wanted to coach better for him and I didn’t. We put him in kind of an unfair situation that we didn’t play like a championship team these whole six games. So, we got to figure that out.”
Maybe Cone is right to feel bad about Grigsby, who put up 34.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game in six games for Ginebra. Unfortunately, he rarely got the kind of local help that wins games, with RJ Abarrientos, in particular, struggling to start the conference, and Scottie Thompson missing the first five games due to injury.
Cone Hopes to Reignite Ginebra
Then again, that poor start is all water under the bridge for Ginebra, and all Cone can do now is look forward to getting back to work. But first, he’ll have to pull double duty for the national team, as he is set to coach Gilas Pilipinas in both the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers and in the Asian Games in a span of a month.
“Hopefully, this break will get everybody going in the right direction. I can get through the window and the Asian Games and really reignite, refocus into Ginebra. That’s the plan at this point,” he added.
That’s certainly a plan. Whether that plan translates to a turnaround for Ginebra remains to be seen.
