Cone disappointed as Ginebra fails to play to its identity

Tim Cone. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

During a timeout early in the third quarter, Tim Cone lashed out at his players. He threw his marker and slammed his playboard out of frustration then walked away from the huddle.

Barangay Ginebra was behind by seven, 51-44, before Cone lost his cool and pulled ahead, 57-51, after.

In that particular stretch, Ginebra was at its best. They were running up-and-down and making plays and the Gin Kings looked like themselves.

But through the entirety of Ginebra’s 107-103 loss in Game 3 of the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals on Wednesday night, Cone hardly recognized his team.

“I’m really disappointed with our play, I’m not discouraged, it’s too early to be discouraged,” a dejected Cone told reporters. “But I am disappointed with our play. Like I said we’re not playing to our identity.”

“This is the wrong time to step away from your identity. You get to this point you got to go with what’s gotten you here and we’re not doing that in this championship series.”

Cone had nothing good to say about his team’s performance. On defense, Ginebra allowed 107 points while on the other end, there was just too much of Justin Brownlee.

Brownlee had a conference-high 42 points on 38 shots, nearly half of what the entire Meralco team attempted, while the next best scorer was LA Tenorio, who tallied 14.

“Defensively, we weren’t real good. You give up 107 points, it’s just too many points. It’s obvious, we’re too Justin reliant. We just didn’t play to our identity,” Cone stressed.

In Game 2, Ginebra limited Meralco below 80 points to win, 82-79.

“I was upset first minute onward, I was upset for 48 minutes. I didn’t think we played to our identity at all. If we forgotten it, then we gotta remember it because this thing is gonna get away from us if we’re not careful.”

Game 4 is on Friday night with the Gin Kings looking to avoid a 3-1 hole.