GINEBRA coach Tim Cone will certainly remember this for a long time.
The pro league’s winningest tactician was crestfallen after the Kings fell to the TNT Tropang Giga 87-83 in overtime in a Game 7 for the ages in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals last Friday night.
“They outplayed us. They deserve it. Game’s over. They made the big plays down the stretch, we didn’t. What else can I say?” posed Cone. “I mean, they deserve it more than we did.
“It was a classic finals that went into overtime during the seventh game. I don’t remember that happening before,” he added.
To say Ginebra’s third straight loss to the same foe in the Big Dance is painful is an understatement.
The Kings went into the championship as the favorites after boosting their roster with the addition of big man Troy Rosario via free agency before the mid-season meet. High-flying forward Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray had also been healthy after sitting out the last Governors’ Cup finals due to calf and knee injuries.
Tropang Giga veteran star playmaker Jayson Castro also suffered a season-ending knee injury in the semifinals against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters which should have propped up Ginebra’s drive for a first crown in four conferences.
But Kings resident import Justin Brownlee went down with a dislocated right thumb injury in the third game that had armchair pundits pointing to a TNT title triumph.
For a while, the Kings seemingly quashed that prediction, winning Games 4 and 5 to grab a 3-2 series lead behind the exploits of the brave Brownlee and former MVP Scottie Thompson after TNT took a 2-1 edge when Brownlee broke his thumb.
With reigning best import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, eventual finals MVP Rey Nambatac, and the likes of JP Erram, Calvin Oftana, and unsung Game 7 hero Glenn Khobuntin, the Tropang Giga soldiered on and won the last two matches—with the same score lines of 87-83 in the sixth duel and in the no tomorrow battle.
Cone, who has 25 diadems and has not lost in a Game 7 in the last 16 years before last Friday, has at least a few weeks to ponder what went wrong before they see action anew in the Philippine Cup.
“I don’t think much about it right now. We lost. I’m not going to be thrilled about anything at this point,” Cone said. “I’m not a really good loser, put it this way.
“Bottom line is we lost. They deserve it. They deserve the celebration.”
