When the PBA Governors’ Cup restarted after an extended break, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel was at the bottom of Group B with a 2-4 record. They had also lost back-to-back games, to the Magnolia Hotshots and Meralco Bolts, both via routs.
And, for a moment, it looked like Ginebra’s streak of 50 straight playoff appearances dating back to the 2005–06 season was about to end.
Then, the never-say-die spirit showed. Ginebra went 3-1 in the restart, punctuated by a wire-to-wire 101-96 victory over the Blackwater Bossing on Friday to seal a league-best 51 playoff stints over two decades.
Proud of Ginebra’s Fight Back
Unsurprisingly, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone is mighty proud of Ginebra’s timely resurgence—something that looked impossible just a few weeks ago.
“Let me say that this was a tough group, and we’re real proud of our guys for working their way back into the conference after working our way back into the group and still making the playoffs,” Cone told reporters after Friday’s game at Ynares Center in Antipolo. “I guess we finished as the third seed. Didn’t look that way a couple weeks ago, so we had to really scratch and claw to get to where we were.”
Cone is right. After opening the restart with an impressive 129-111 rout of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Ginebra promptly dropped its next game against Magnolia, also via rout. That left the crowd darlings at 3-5 and all but one loss away from elimination.
That loss didn’t come.
‘You Play to Win’
Ginebra took care of business against the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 106-89, which meant the barangay’s playoff fate was in its hands: They just had to beat Blackwater, or not lose by over 23 points. With that playoff spot within reach, the only question was whether or not Ginebra would try to win or lose on purpose to fall to the fourth seed to face the NLEX Road Warriors in the quarters rather than the San Miguel Beermen.
Cone and his wards chose to win.
“It was never in our minds really to win or lose the basketball game. We just wanted to make sure we played well and get prepared for the playoffs, which is what you normally do in a non-bearing game,” he explained. “When we felt we had the quotient in hand, it became kind of a non-bearing game for us. To me, I’ve always felt through the years that you play the game the way you’re supposed to play it. You play it hard. You play it to win. And then you let the cards fall where they may.”
The cards have fallen, all right. And they show Ginebra up against the mighty Beermen in a best-of-five series.
