GINEBRA coach Tim Cone threw the whiteboard during a late timeout before the end of the first half against Blackwater last Tuesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
That apparently lit a fire as the Kings battled back to exact sweet revenge over the Bossing.
“We talked about an attitude change. We needed to come out with a little bit more of a higher level of intensity because they’ve (Blackwater) proven to be a really, really strong team,” Cone said after Ginebra ripped Blackwater 112-98 for its third straight win in Group B of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
“I thought the guys really did a good job of responding, they did raise their intensity level,” he added.
The Kings nearly fell to the upstart Bossing anew but got the job done, thanks mainly to former MVP Scottie Thompson.
“We had a few moments where we weren’t playing well, and we lost our focus a little bit,” Cone said after getting a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists from Thompson.
“But generally, our energizer bunny (Thompson) kept us in the right frame of mind all the way through.”
Resident import Justin Brownlee had 20 markers, nine boards and two dimes while rookie RJ Abarrientos had 15 and three for Ginebra.
Stephen Holt and Japeth Aguilar also combined for 28 points as the Kings scored a big follow-up to a 110-101 victory over the Phoenix Fuel Masters Friday last week and rose to 4-2.
More importantly, Ginebra redeemed itself from a stunning 88-95 loss to Blackwater in their first-round tiff last Aug. 30.
The Bossing came off a 110-109 squeaker over the NLEX Road Warriors five days back and slipped to 3-4.
Now healthy after sitting out most of last season due to a back injury, Thompson downplayed his sterling game and insisted he just wanted to lead by example.
“I’m slowly getting back at iyon lang ang gusto kong ma-achieve this conference, maging healthy uli. Alam ko naman dadating iyon,” Thompson said. “Overall, we have to get better. Ako naman, I also have to serve as a role model for our younger players.
“Dapat maging modelo in the game and in practice for the young guys to buy in doon sa kung ano ang ginagawa namin.”
Cone admitted Blackwater, powered by prolific reinforcement George King whom the Kings held to 21 points, could not be taken lightly.
“Blackwater is for real. They’re a ‘for real’ team, especially now with George King,” Cone said. “They have a lot of different weapons, and I thought we did a really good job against (Sedrick) Barefield in our first game even though we lost but he got away from us in this game and played really well.”
Troy Rosario had 18 markers and seven rebounds for the Bossing while Barefield, Christian David, and Justin Chua got 15, 13, and 12 points, respectively.
As for the whiteboard throwing?
“That’s something that I shouldn’t be doing. It’s not a good example for young coaches out there, I admit that. Hopefully, I don’t do it more often, but I know I’ve done it a lot in my career but I’m an older and wiser coach,” Cone said. “So, I should know better not to do that.
“But bottom line was they took out George King and we had a 17-point lead, and they knocked it down to seven, eight points and we weren’t happy with the effort (of our players).”
