By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone isn’t all too worried with his team’s slow start in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup, noting how their last games offer more positives than what their 1-2 record suggests.
The veteran mentor was sticking to positives despite the Kings’ 89-75 collapse against the Meralco Bolts. For Cone, Ginebra’s slow start was simply about the team’s tough schedule to open the conference.
For the team’s improvement, he was pretty much satisfied with how things are going for the Kings.
To me, it’s not really an up and down (conference). To me, I’ve seen some really positive things. It’s been a tough schedule,” said Cone after the loss to Meralco.
“We played Magnolia, Talk N Text, Meralco, then San Miguel next. We knew this was gonna be tough to start. But I’ve seen a lot of positive things that I like,” he added.
Cone noted how his team bounced back from a flat start against Magnolia and clobbered TNT, its Finals rival in two conferences last season.
The King even looked to be on their way to picking up their second win, if not for a fourth quarter collapse that saw the team commit consecutive turnovers that fueled a searing fourth quarter rally for the Bolts.
“We played a great game for about 32 minutes and then everything fell apart. I think we’re up by 16 and then they made a run and made it a five-point deficit at the end of the third quarter. I thought we played like I said, that tremendous 32 minutes in this basketball game. We just couldn’t sustain and finish it,” Cone explained.
Still, there were a lot of encouraging signs for Cone as he believes the team only need a couple more games to reach its peak.
“We didn’t play well in the first game, but we played well the last two games. I thought we played well tonight. We just couldn’t keep our momentum going.”
“To me it’s not up and down. We’re on a poor trajectory but like I said, it’s a tough schedule, we’re playing tough teams,” said Cone whose team will now enjoy a week’s respite before flying out to Dubai for its overseas game against San Miguel on Sunday, Oct. 26.
