Ginebra paves road to top two finish

Barangay Ginebra put away hard-fighting TNT on Sunday night with an 89-85 victory that kept a twice-to-beat incentive within reach for the crowd darling Gin Kings.

But head coach Tim Cone hardly felt like a winner after the hard-earned win at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“You name me the winning coach, but I felt like I was totally outcoached today,” he said afterwards. “Obviously, the result is the result. I’m happy about the result. I’m not happy about the process of getting to that result.”

The Gin Kings needed every sort of break down the stretch—from enemy turnovers to key plays from its resident import Justin Brownlee—to dispose of a Tropang Giga crew which already missed Cameron Oliver (sprained knee) and then later in the contest Jayson Castro (rolled ankle).

“We had to do everything we could just to stay in the game and have a chance to win in the end after our blistering start,” Cone said of TNT.

Ginebra is in the running to claim a win-once bonus in the next round after beating visiting Bay Area and Magnolia that handed both their respective first losses.

“We’ve got a tough road ahead of us but again, we still control our own destiny and that’s what we’re trying to do today,” Cone said, as Ginebra girds for NLEX, resurgent NorthPort, and then dangerous Converge. INQ