Ginebra coach Tim Cone. –PBA IMAGES
Barangay Ginebra’s path to the crown runs through Meralco — again.
Tim Cone, however, wants the Gin Kings to leave the past behind as they prepare for a vigorous clash when their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-three quarterfinals gets going this Sunday.
“We’re trying to play them as if we have no history with them,” the Gin Kings mentor told the Inquirer on the eve of the 6:30 p.m. clash at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
That would be a strange tactic for a team that could derive a lot of confidence from looking back to those memorable Ginebra-Meralco duels. After all, the Kings have won most of that.
But this is Tim Cone. And Tim Cone never lays down a path for his team to take with no reason.
“We don’t want to fall into old patterns with them because they’ve evolved as a team,” the Grand Slam mentor said. “What we’ve done in the past with them won’t be good enough now, [so] we need to understand that and take a fresh approach to the series.”
Meralco has truly proven to be a resilient bunch over the years. Despite being on the nasty receiving end of its showdowns with Ginebra, the Bolts have always managed to rejuvenate its confidence.
And that couldn’t be more true this time.
“We know they have the pieces. But I think nothing better for us, and the players, than to be in that type of atmosphere. You have that crowd, people talking about it. You want to be there,” said Luigi Trillo, the Meralco assistant coach now running the team with Norman Black in the States to attend to family matters.
Much of that optimism is built from Meralco’s recent strides in the All-Filipino. The club has reached the Final Four twice in the last two editions of the tournament and one of those two campaigns would’ve lasted a bit longer if not for Scottie Thompson’s triple during the deciding Game 5 of the semifinals back in 2020.
And then there is the fact that the Bolts also handily beat the crowd darlings, 90-73, in their elimination round contest.
Whatever floats Meralco’s confidence right now is also baked into Cone’s guarded outlook, something coach Chito Victolero is also presenting even his third-seed Magnolia packing heat in its 4:30 p.m. duel with unpredictable NLEX.
“Going into these playoffs, we now have momentum,” he said of the seven-game tear that capped the Hotshots’ elimination phase. “We’ve also experienced all sorts of games: a catch-up, a close one, a come-from-behind and an overtime. All of that will be good for us.”
“But against NLEX, there’s only a 50-50 chance [of winning],” he said.
Calvin Abueva, who has been the anchor of the Hotshots’ blistering run, is also aware what last year’s Philippine Cup bridesmaids are up against in the No. 6 Road Warriors.
“We all know NLEX is not a low-level [team]. We know they fight,” he said.