MANILA, Philippines—Seeing a lot of good things in a setback, Alaska coach Tim Cone has remained as confident as when his Aces still had a two-game edge over San Miguel Beer in their best-of-seven series for the PBA Fiesta Conference title.
“We took their best punch and got right back up,” Cone said Sunday night, after Alaska dropped Game 5, 94-96, and saw its lead cut to 3-2. “We just didn’t play well enough to win. We had the last shot but came up short.
“Generally, throughout the game, they (Beermen) outplayed us,” he continued. “But our guys didn’t quit and that’s good. We’ll see if we can close it out on Wednesday.”
Alaska takes the second of its three chances to put away their 13th championship Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Asked if the Game 5 loss deflated the morale of his wards, Cone said: “We’re a confident team and we have to finish this (series) because Diamon (Simpson) has a new job waiting for him in Turkey.”
Alaska literally came up inches short of closing the series last Sunday when Cyrus Baguio’s three-point attempt narrowly missed its target at the buzzer.
That’s how in command the Aces have been in this series, with Cone able to give his squad a shot at winning each contest in the stretch, save for Game 3, where Alaska came out with a limp and lost horribly.
Gee Abanilla is again expected to call the shots for the Beermen in lieu of Siot Tanquingcen, and the mastermind of San Miguel’s Game 5 win is oblivious to the fact that Cone watched his moves intently and will be ready.
“Alaska will make the adjustments,” Abanilla told reporters after notching his first win in a title series. He also had stints calling the shots for Red Bull under Yeng Guiao, but never in games of this magnitude.
“Tim (Cone) is a very brilliant coach and will use technical and motivational adjustments,” added Abanilla, who said he expects to again be at the San Miguel helm tonight. “I think a coach who can motivate and bring out the best in his players will be successful in the next game.”
It was apparent from Sunday’s game that Abanilla did not ask import Gabriel Freeman to score in buckets. The ploy resulted in more Beermen getting involved, with Mick Pennisi and Denok Miranda playing more minutes and delivering big time.
Pennisi hit three triples and Miranda capped a 12-point night with a crucial jumper with over two minutes left that proved to be San Miguel’s last basket.
Simpson will again be the focal point of Alaska’s game on both ends, with Baguio, Tony Dela Cruz, Reynel Hugnatan and LA Tenorio— Alaska’s tiny point guard who has gotten the better of the entire San Miguel guard rotation so far in the series—providing support.
San Miguel is seeking to become just the fourth team ever to force a Game 7 after digging a 1-3 hole for itself in a best-of-seven series.
And in PBA Finals history, only Ginebra San Miguel—with that memorable fallaway jumpshot by Rudy Distrito at the buzzer in the 1991 Reinforced Conference—managed to win the rubber match in a title series.
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