Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Despite yielding the PBA Philippine Cup title to San Miguel Beer on Sunday, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone said his players can walk out of Smart Araneta Coliseum with their heads held high.
Cone feels proud with how the Gin Kings fought to get to the finals.
“You always don’t like coming up short. You’re here and you want to put up a better fight than we did. But honestly, I’m very proud of our guys. Coming from the seventh-seed, and getting back to the Finals, that’s already a great feat,” he said.
Already without Greg Slaughter to start the conference, Ginebra had to overcome a twice-to-win disadvantage against No. 2 Alaska in the quarterfinals and outlast Star in seven games in the semis, before bowing to San Miguel in Game 5 in the championship round.
Along the way, the Gin Kings battled through adversities with Joe Devance playing hurt due to his plantar fasciitis and Jervy Cruz dealing with a shoulder injury and only playing for two minutes in the last three games of the Finals.
“Sure, we overcame a lot, but the guys were worn out,” he said.
“They overwhelmed us. It just showed how powerful they were. We didn’t have any answers for them,” he said. “We tried to slow the game down. We tried different ways but we just couldn’t find a way to consistently give them problems. And they’re hitting their shots, they’re a great shooting team. June Mar (Fajardo) is a great equalizer because you spend so much time giving attention to him and you lose the shooters. We tried to do both and couldn’t get either. That’s the problem.”
Though the Gin Kings dominated the boards, 57-29, and was able to keep the pace slow, they failed to silence the Beermen’s main hitters down the stretch.
Losing a title series stings especially for Cone, who has been so used to winning. But again, there’s nothing he could do with how things transpired and he could only be thankful for the effort his wards showed.
“There’s so much to be proud about, but it’s hard to proud after a loss. Wait 24 hours. Talk to me again, I’ll be really happy with what we did. It’s just hard to react right now,” he said.