Cone, Ginebra wary of Star’s playoff experience

Tim Cone isn’t the type of coach who dwells on the past. But after Barangay Ginebra overcame TNT’s fourth-quarter rally on Sunday night, the winningest coach in PBA history was left with no choice but to recall his first game as the Kings head coach two months ago with an impending showdown with his former team on Christmas Day.

It wasn’t the kind of debut Cone had in mind after Ginebra got an 86-78 beating at the hands of his former team Star in a game where the final score won’t really say how the Hotshots dominated.

“Our reward for winning this game is we gotta play Star, my ex-team which is really, really hard and they handled us so easily the first time we played them,” Cone told reporters after the Kings’ 91-84 victory over the Tropang Texters. “So hopefully, we’re a better team and we understand a little bit more of what we wanna do.”

“We played them in our first game of the conference and they had us down by 25 points in the first eight minutes of the game so we’re fortunate to get this twice-to-beat,” added Cone, who steered the Purefoods’ franchise to a Grand Slam during the 2014 season. The Hotshots, under Cone successor Jason Webb, have been searching for some consistency and ended up in ninth place with a 4-7 record. But if there’s one who knows what Star is capable of, it’s Cone. “Those Purefoods players, obviously, know how to play in the playoffs. They know how to get themselves ready for the playoffs. Of all the teams out there, I think they’re the toughest team because they are veterans and they know how to play and they can put a couple of really good games together.” While it may be a dream playoff matchup for fans, Cone isn’t treating the duel differently despite the narratives that surround Friday’s clash between two most popular teams in the league.
“We have the Christmas Day game which is always a difficult, difficult game to play. so many distractions, so many things going on but it’s difficult for both teams not just us,” said Cone. “I’m not looking forward to it at all. But they’re a team in our way and we’re in their way. We both wanna go out there and win. I love the Purefoods guys dearly. But at this point they’re in our way and we gotta find a way to beat them and they’re gonna do the same thing to us. At this point right now, there is no love lost between us.”