CAN they?
The Ginebra dugout was all gloom and the players sported dejected faces after the Kings absorbed a crushing 72-99 loss to the defending champion TNT Tropang Giga in Game 5 of their best-of-7 finals clash for the PBA Governors’ Cup title last Wednesday night.
The crowd darling fell badly in the pivotal tiff before 12,727 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum—mostly Ginebra die-hard supporters—but the battle is far from over, according to Kings coach Tim Cone.
“It’s one game in a series, it’s not ‘the series,’ and my job is to win a series and not to win one game,” Cone said. “It’s the same as losing a 30-point game and losing a one-point game. Actually, it doesn’t matter that we lost by 30 points.
“Bottom line is we lost. You’d still be talking to me if we lost by one point, or we lost by 30. So, it’s the same thing,” he added.
The 27-point defeat that sank the team to a 2-3 series deficit was the worst for the Ginebra ballclub in six years, or since the squad lost to San Miguel Beer in Game 3 of the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup 94-132, according to pro league chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
The Kings will try to drag the Big Dance to sudden death in the sixth match tonight also at the Big Dome. A Game 7, if necessary, will be played on Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Resident Ginebra import Justin Brownlee only shot 3-for-13 from the field, missing all three of his threes and two from four-point distance for eight points. He trooped to the bench early in the fourth quarter for good, his single-digit output the lowest for the first time in his career, surpassing his previous career-low of 10 in Game 4 of the 2016 Governors’ Cup finals against Meralco.
Scottie Thompson and LA Tenorio carried the fight for the Kings with 13 points each while Stephen Holt had 10 markers.
Cone admitted fatigue took its toll on Ginebra in Game 5 after the Kings whipped the Tropang Giga 106-92 in the fourth game last Sunday.
“We looked overly tired tonight even though we had a two-day break,” Cone said. “We looked overly tired. We weren’t moving well.”
With their title dreams on the line, Cone is unfazed.
“Now, our backs are to the wall, and we have to come out with a little bit of desperation in Game 6,” he said.
“No one feels about losing a game like this than me. But we just got to move on, get ready for Game 6 and see what we can do.”