For Barangay Ginebra mentor Tim Cone, Game 7 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioners Cup was a completion of an unfinished business that they thought was all wrapped up but which the Bay Area Dragons transformed into a spoiler of a night on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Coned admitted they focused their entire might on Games 6 and that fighting for another day was not the way they wanted to finish the blockbuster series.
Two days later, though, before a record mammoth crowd at the massive Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan the Kings slew the Dragons that were threatening to cast a gloom over the entire PBA hoopdome.
“We felt we had Game 6 in hand. We made that nice comeback, and we felt we had it in hand. And then we let it slip away,” said Cone moments after the Gin Kings posted a 114-99 swamping of the Bay Area Dragons to claim Ginebra’s 14th league crown.
The Kings were so focused on taking Game 6, according to the Gin Kings’ mentor, that they walked away and went home from the MOA Arena with an enraged feeling.
And that feeling spilled over when they stepped into the Philippine Arena.
“They could feel the energy of the crowd who were there. You know, just from the very first basket when we scored. It’s hard to explain, but we could feel the energy of the players goes up,” added Cone.
The team got fired up the moment they saw the 54,589 fans who trooped to Bocaue begin cheering for them.
Everyone, from former Ginebra legends like Noli Locsin to Sunday Salvacion, and probably non-Ginebra fans, were not just cheering Ginebra—they were shouting “Philippines, Philippines” as if the battle was between the country’s national squad and China. After all, the Bay Area Dragons is a team based in Hong Kong which is part of China.
“They were just battling through, battling through, battling through. And whenever we got that lead, it just kinda got us purposeful,” said the 64-year-old Cone.
Cone, who has been coaching in the PBA since 1989, has so far earned his 25th overall PBA crown as a coach, and seventh for the Gin Kings.
“We knew what we gotta do out there. And we stayed with it. We were really surprised at how well played, how we were able to handle Bay Area,” added Cone as he dealt with the coaching brilliance of Brian Goorjian, who is best known for steering Australia to a bronze medal finish during the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In his victory speech, Ginebra governor and San Miguel Corporation sports director Alfrancis Chua paid tribute to the Ginebra fans. “Na scout nila pwera lang kayo, referring to the massive crowd that trooped to watch the game live. Wala silang ganyan sa China.”