Tim Cone looked like a beaten man postgame after his Barangay Ginebra San Miguel got dismantled by the TNT Tropang Giga in Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
It was Ginebra’s fourth straight loss to TNT dating back to the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, and the close final score masked what was an otherwise listless performance from the crowd darlings.
Afterward, Cone told reports in a scrum that he was “getting kind of tired of saying we were outplayed and outcoached.”
“I’m getting tired of saying that,” he reiterated.
There’s just one problem. Ginebra did get outplayed and Cone was, in fact, outcoached by his counterpart, Chot Reyes.
The Tropa got the lead for good, 17-14, at the 4:05 mark of the first quarter on RR Pogoy’s second of three consecutive triples. It then built a double-digit lead not long after, before ending the first half with a 55-39 cushion. The closest Ginebra got was to within 93-89, but by then the game was over as there was only five seconds left.
Ginebra Was Confused, According to Cone
Part of the reason TNT was so dominant was because they got a lot of great, open looks, especially from downtown. In all, the Tropa hit 14 treys, with nine coming in that dominant first half alone. Then, every time Ginebra tried to mount a comeback in the second half, TNT would get an open look and take advantage.
Cone naturally rued the defensive mistakes that led to those open looks while also admitting that TNT’s defense confused his wards.
“We have to understand that this is going to be a lot tougher series than it was the last one. We got a little bit confused out there. Credit their defense, they defended really well as usual,” Cone said. “We got to step up our defense as well. We make way too many defensive mistakes. It’s Game 1. It’s not what we wanted. We’ll deal with it and move forward.”
How Ginebra will move forward is something fans and pundits alike will be interested to see. TNT has had Ginebra’s number so far in Season 49, beating the crowd darlings six times in their eight encounters—including four by an average of 16.25 points in last conference’s Finals.
Put simply, Ginebra getting outplayed and outcoached has become commonplace this season. No wonder Cone is getting tired of it.
Now, the PBA’s winningest coach says he wants to “change the narrative.”
It needs to start with him.
