Justin Brownlee. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Tim Cone talked at length about how well his Barangay Ginebra team can match up with San Miguel Beer, that no other team is better than the Gin Kings in that aspect.
He made the mistake of not putting that edge to good use in Game 2 on Sunday night and paid dearly for it.
By not starting do-it-all guard Scottie Thompson and the hulking Greg Slaughter, the Gin Kings failed to keep up with the Beermen early on and never threatened the rest of the way as Ginebra effectively gave up the psychological edge following its blowout Game 1 win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup title series.
“Nice bawi (fightback), they really came back at us,” Cone said after the Beermen’s 134-109 rout that leveled the best-of-seven title playoffs at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Gin Kings were able to stall San Miguel in the early goings of the series opener on Friday with a solid starting five that included Slaughter and Thompson. Ginebra was 15 points up after the first period and sat on a 19-point bulge at the half.
On Sunday, the roles were reversed, with the bloodbath evident after the second period as San Miguel built a 75-49 lead.
“We were able to establish our dominance in the shaded area,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said when asked to comment on Cone’s small starting unit.
“We tried to disrupt their game plan and we kind of fell right to it,” Cone said in reply to a question why he kept Slaughter and Thompson out of the starting unit and starting instead with Jeff Chan and Kevin Ferrer. “We made several turnovers early, nine in the first quarter and they turned those to transition points and easy baskets.
“It kind of mushroomed from there,” Cone added. “We never recovered.”
Game 3 is set on Wednesday, also at the Big Dome, and Cone believes that after two blowout results, this one will go down the wire.
And with that, tempers are expected to fray, like they did in the latter stages of Game 2.
“It certainly got chippy and you will see that the whole series. We’re sister teams and we’re not friendly. We see them as a mountain to be conquered and they see us as a threat to their throne,” Cone said.
“There’s no love lost between these sister teams. I don’t think it’s going to be laid down for either team,” he said. “We’re coming out hard.”