San Mig Coffee targets 3-1 series lead over Ginebra

Barangay Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter (left) tries to force his way past San Mig Coffee forward Marc Pingris. August dela Cruz

MANILA, Philippines — Tim Cone was the first to admit that he said something stupid moments after San Mig Coffee beat Barangay Ginebra in Game 1 of their PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup Final Four series.

After winning the series opener and losing Game 2 by miles, Cone got his Mixers back in the groove and back in the lead with a high-wire Game 3 win on Sunday before making sure never to repeat a much-publicized post-Game 1 quote.

“That was a really stupid thing for me to say,” Cone said when asked if a 2-1 lead again gives him the chance to “dictate the tempo” of the best-of-seven series. “I don’t know if I will still have that same approach again.”

Cone and his gang of hard-fighting Mixers battle the crowd-darling Gin Kings in the fifth game of their half of the Final Four, with San Mig looking to more or less put Ginebra away with another win at 8 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“I still don’t feel comfortable being up 2-1. Our team will have to play an A+ game to beat this (Ginebra) team,” Cone stressed with both of their victories coming in the dying minutes.

“(If) we come out the next game lacking energy, we’re done,” Cone said, referring to what happened in the second game. “Our job is to stay in the game and beat them in the fourth quarter.”

Beating the Kings in the fourth quarter was the story in the first and third games, and Ginebra would have to look to stop just one man from again taking over when the game is on the line: Mark Barroca.

The 5-foot-10 point guard has been hurting Ginebra, and Sunday’s game was no different with Barroca finishing with a career-high 25 points, nine of them in the fourth period.

And to his credit, Cone outcoached Ato Agustin in that game after being able to pull surprises like using rookie Justin Melton for the whole of the fourth quarter on Monday and keeping some of his superstars on the bench.