WHILE big man Christian Standhardinger was definitely the star of the show, Ginebra coach Tim Cone also paid credit to the team’s supporting cast as the Kings pulled off a tough 89-84 decision over the Meralco Bolts in Game 5 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series last Sunday night.
Standhardinger was clutch in the stretch, peppering the Bolts with timely hits from the perimeter, but Cone said it was the bench that made it happen, giving them a 3-2 edge in the best-of-7 series, one win away from advancing to the finals.
“I just have to give credit to the guys; they kept their heads up. Tonight was a grind-out win. Credit the guys in keeping us in the game. It was really, really hard out there,” the veteran tactician noted.
“Japeth Aguilar, I thought, was going to faint. He was so exhausted. We even did back-to-back timeouts so the guys could rest,” said Cone of the Ginebra slotman who had a key double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
He likewise mentioned LA Tenorio and Scottie Thompson for “stepping up” when the team needed them, plus the team’s “Sixth Man.”
“The leaders, Christian, LA and Scottie started to really step up. Once we started to get into that battle mode, things started to happen,” he said.
“Our crowd got into it and that put a lot of pressure on them (Meralco). We really have to give credit to the ‘Sixth Man’ tonight. We haven’t had it in this series for a while but we really had it out there tonight,” Cone stressed.
Standhardinger also praised his teammates for passing the ball to him while he had a hot hand.
“I have to hand it to them. They try to get me involved as I try to get them involved. There is no unselfish player in our group. We try to make each other better,” he said.
Cone said the all-hands-on-deck mindset will be crucial when they try to finish off the desperate charges of coach Luigi Trillo tomorrow at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
