GINEBRA coach Tim Cone is convinced that simply playing good will not hack it for his charges.
“Good is not enough for us. Playing good is not enough for us. We got to play great every night because we know the other teams will gonna play great when they come to play Ginebra,” Cone said. “I know that because I coached against Ginebra for 26 years. I knew our team was always ready to play Ginebra.
“If we will only show up and be good then there’s an opportunity for us to get beat every night. We have to be great to have a chance every night,” he added.
Cone spoke after Ginebra eked out a 99-91 victory over Meralco last Sunday night for its first win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The win atoned for the Kings’ embarrassing 71-93 loss to Rain or Shine six days ago and improved their mark to 1-1 early in the mid-season tourney.
The Bolts, who missed the services of guard Chris Newsome due to a sore calf, absorbed their second defeat in as many games.
Cone said Ginebra’s stunning setback in its opener jolted the Kings to their senses.
“We’re certainly stunned (by the 22-point loss to Rain or Shine). Nobody in the locker room for sure thought we’d get beat by 22 points on our opening game,” Cone said.
“It’s something we talked about, and it provided us with a wakeup call. It’s easy to lose your edge and the moment we lose our edge anything can happen to us because the other team is ready to play.”
Do-it-all import Justin Brownlee shone for Ginebra with a game-high 34 points, to go with five rebounds and four assists, while Stanley Pringle chipped in 16 markers and four boards.
Reigning MVP Scottie Thompson nearly had a triple double with 15 points, nine rebounds, and nine dimes for the Kings, while Japeth Aguilar, Christian Standhardinger, and Jamie Malonzo produced 10 markers each.
Reinforcement Johnny O’Bryant paced Meralco with 31 points and 16 caroms, while Allein Maliksi added 20 and three.
Aaron Black and Raymond Almazan got 14 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bolts.
Cone reserved his biggest praise on Brownlee, who wound up with 20 points and 16 rebounds the last time out, but struggled with a 28 percent shooting from the field, counting a 1-of-10 clip from deep.
“You just know he is going to bounce back. His history is that he bounces back, and he has done that throughout his five, six years that he has been here. I think the moment you start to doubt Justin, I think you’re a little bit silly,” he said.
“I just think you just got to keep with him and stay with him, and he is going to deliver like he did tonight. Beware if you doubt Justin.”
