A win is a win, the saying goes. But for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone, the way his team won Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals against the TNT Tropang 5G left plenty on the table.
Cone, in particular, wasn’t too happy with Ginebra’s fourth quarter, where they surrendered their 79‑72 lead. In fact, the crowd darlings looked headed for a crushing defeat after the Tropa zoomed ahead, 95‑90, with under three minutes left.
Ginebra Survives
But RJ Abarrientos hit two colossal four‑pointers and Justin Brownlee conjured endgame magic once more to rescue Ginebra from the jaws of defeat. Even that couldn’t please Cone, though.
“I wasn’t happy about the fourth quarter, that’s for sure. We lost control of the game in the fourth quarter, even in much of the second half,” Cone told reporters in the aftermath of Ginebra’s 102-100 win in Game 1. “We hit some big shots. RJ hit some big shots that got us back in the game, but we lost our lead. And we just, I just felt we weren’t defending like we were in the first half. Maybe we got a little tired.”
Maybe it’s true. The Finals started just two days after both teams punched their respective tickets to the last dance, robbing both sides of the usual one‑week rest between the end of the semifinals and the start of the Finals. But, early on, Ginebra looked sharp and energized as it built as much as a 16‑point lead. Then, Abarrientos and company looked deflated and rattled as Rey Nambatac led TNT all the way back.
“It’s been a tough, tough road—the quick turnaround from Sunday’s game, although it’s equal for both teams. But it did seem like we ran out of steam there in the fourth quarter and down the stretch,” Cone admitted later on.
Cone Moves On, Looks Forward
Warts and all, Ginebra got the job done to open the Finals. And now Cone and his team will be moving on and hoping to avoid repeating the mistakes of Game 1.
“Again, we just kind of lost our way there in the fourth quarter, and we’ve got to be stronger going out to the next game. This one’s over. We’ve got to be thinking about how we’re going to do that better in Game 2,” Cone acknowledged.
They better be. TNT didn’t play their best game at all in Game 1, and yet they were still maybe a couple of stops away—perhaps a break or two here and there—from going up 1‑0.
Game 2 is on Friday, June 5, also at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
