Ginebra coach Tim Cone and TNT coach Chot Reyes (foreground) during a PBA Philippine CUp game. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—As expected, the respect between coaches Tim Cone and Chot Reyes remained at an all-time high after their classic in the PBA Philippine Cup.
On Friday, Ginebra one-upped TNT in a squeaker, 87-83, at Philsports Arena and when the buzzer sounded, Cone tipped his hat anew to Reyes.
“I really hate playing against Chot. I really hate it,” said Cone. “First of all, he knows me like a book and I lose more games than I win against him which is why I don’t like playing against him but we were in the World Cup together, he asked me to be there and basically put me in a position to be the national team coach here so I owe him all that.”
READ: PBA: Ginebra scrapes past TNT for third straight win
There’s a lot of shared history between the two veteran tacticians. For one, they both called the shots for Gilas Pilipinas in the 2023 Fiba World Cup in Manila.
But even after that, both mentors put on their thinking hat in a quest to help improve the national team program.
A few months after the global competition, Reyes turned over his head coaching post to Cone which bore wonders for Gilas in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and most recently, the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup Qualifiers’ first window.
“There’s a lot that we’ve given to each other over the years. We’ve given each other opportunities. We have tremendous respect and I respect him so much just from a coaching standpoint, much less a personal or friendship standpoint but the coaching point is really big,” Cone said of Reyes.
But that’s the international stage. In the PBA all-Filipino conference, it’s all business.
“We get mad when we lose to each other, there’s no doubt but maybe after a day or two, we settle down,” said Cone.
The Gin Kings improved to a 6-3 card to inch closer to the pivotal second seed while Tropang Giga will have to claw their way up the ladder in the latter part of the conference with a 4-4 record.