Tim Cone, Mixers seek history

SAN MIG Coffee gunner James Yap tries to get past Rain or Shine’s Jireh Ibañes in Saturday’s Game 3 at Smart Araneta Coliseum. PBA images

MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee guns for more than the PBA Governors’ Cup title Monday when the Mixers clash with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Game 4 of their best-of-five championship series at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

Game time is 8 p.m. with the Mixers tipped as the prohibitive pick to add another title to their collection and cement their place in the league as one of the all-time greatest teams with the completion of the Grand Slam.

Coach Tim Cone tried so hard not to talk about the handsome prospects after pounding out a 79-68 Game 3 win for a 2-1 lead on Saturday night, cautious that he might get his wards into a state of complacency against what he described as the mentally toughest team in the league.

Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, meanwhile, sounded pretty certain that this series will see its full route on Wednesday.

As bad as his Elasto Painters played in Game 3, they were still in it until late in the fourth period.

The Elasto Painters looked to have an off day, especially the locals, with only import Arizona Reid finishing in twin digits with 31 points and the squad as a whole shooting a woeful 4-of-24 from three-point range.

This is the first of two chances the Mixers have of completing just the league’s fifth Triple Crown sweep and the first in 18 years, when Cone himself steered the Alaska Aces to the feat in 1996.

Crispa pulled off the trick twice, the first in 1976 under Baby Dalupan and in 1983 under Tommy Manotoc, before San Miguel duplicated it in 1989 under Norman Black using the core of the defunct Northern Cement amateur squad.

“You really can’t talk about it until it is done,” Cone said on Saturday after moving on the cusp of PBA history of his own. He could be the first coach to pull out the sweet treble twice.

Cone has everything going for him Monday, as their fourth-quarter breakaway in Game 3 gave him the chance to rest top guns James Yap and Peter June Simon in the period while keeping Marqus Blakely’s minutes to the minimum.

In fact, Yap didn’t even need to see fourth-quarter action at all. Simon played just four minutes and Blakely seven in the fourth period, pretty soft stints after the game had gotten away from the Painters.

Paul Lee, Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood need to step up offensively if the Painters want to take this series to its deciding game.

Lee played with a slightly swollen left ankle and was off the mark the entire night, while Chan struggled big time like fellow national team member Norwood.