Tim Cone. Photo by August dela Cruz
MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone pinned the blame on himself for the Mixers’ dismal performance in game three of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
After leveling the series last Sunday, the Mixers find themselves trailing Petron anew, 1-2, in the race-to-four battle for the crown after a sound 68-90 defeat Wednesday night.
“When a team plays this badly, it’s not about the players. It’s about the coaching. We just didn’t prepare our guys to come out and play. That’s on us,” admitted Cone.
Almost every bucket came easy for the Boosters, spearheaded by Elijah Milsap’s 28 markers, while the Mixers had to bleed for their points.
It also didn’t help San Mig Coffee that Petron exploded for 10 treys while it struggled with two, then gave up 35 points off second chances and turnovers.
“There’s nothing specific that went wrong. Everything went wrong,” Cone said. “I said we have to be firing in all cylinders to beat this team. And obviously we weren’t tonight (Wednesday night).”
Import Marqus Blakely led with 17 points, 10 boards, four dimes for San Mig Coffee, which also drew 10 markers from James Yap.
PJ Simon, who chipped in 16 in the Mixers’ game two victory, only had six points this time while Pingris just five points.
But the Mixers get another shot at knotting it all up on Friday in game four at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We’re just going to throw this game out the window and focus on the next one. It’s a seven game series. We come back and win next game by 1 point we’ll forget this one,” Cone said.
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