Cone admits still tough for him to coach against ex-team Star

BOCAUE – Even though he’s far removed from his days at Star, coach Tim Cone said he still feels for Star following Ginebra’s 86-79 win on Sunday at Philippine Arena here.

“I feel for (Marc) Ping and PJ (Simon) and Mark (Barroca) and those guys. I know how hard it is to lose on this day. It really is hard to lose,” he said.

“It’s great to win, hard to lose. My heart goes out to those guys.”

LA Tenorio hit the game-winning three last year to tow the Gin Kings to a 92-89 decision and it was Japeth Aguilar’s turn to explode for a career-high 32 points this time to lead his side to the win.

While he was happy to give the Ginebra faithful a festive Christmas the last two years, there’s still a part of Cone that breaks seeing the Hotshots have a gloomy holiday.

After all, it was a franchise he led to five titles in four years where he established himself as the league’ winningest mentor.

“It’s always hard to go against your ex-team. It’s been six years since I coached Alaska and every time, it’s still very hard for me to coach against Alaska. And it’s still very hard for me to coach against Star. So, in that respect, just from a personal standpoint, these are harder than playing San Miguel or TNT,” he
said.

Cone had nothing but praises for his former team, especially with Paul Lee’s ascent as Star’s newest cornerstone.

“Star has been playing extremely well. Paul Lee is just really something. Every time we just for a moment left him open, it was a knockdown shot. We tried really hard not to give him any open look. But the one time, two times, three times, or four times that we did, he was just automatic,” he said. “So, anyway, good game for him and for them. Right now, this team has been playing really well.”

Ginebra and Star are locked in a four-way tie for the sixth spot together with Phoenix and Alaska, all carrying an identical 3-3 slate to end the year.