By REYNALD MAGALLON
There’s simply no reason to celebrate for Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone even after his team moved on cusp of a Finals return in Game 5 of their PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals affair against Rain or Shine.
While the Kings have taken the lead in the series and moved a win away from winning it, one need not look too far behind in history to know that winning Game 5 and taking a 3-2 lead do not guarantee claiming the entire series.
And Cone is very much familiar to it.
The last two times Ginebra held such an advantage they both ended up fumbling the last two games and losing the series in Game 7.
“Well, first of all, we’re not going to be happy with this win. We’ve been in this situation the last couple series we’ve been in. In the best of seven, we led 3-2 and then got beat both times,” said Cone after his team’s 111-104 victory over Rain or Shine.
According to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III, Cone is pertaining to Ginebra best-of-seven series losses to Meralco, during the 2024 Philippine Cup semifinals, and to TNT in last season’s Commissioner’s Cup finals.
In the first series against the Bolts, the Kings seized the 3-2 series lead with an 89-84 win but ended up losing Games 6 and 7, first an 81-86 defeat and then a 69-78 beating.
Against the Tropang 5G, the Kings seized a 3-2 lead with a dominant 73-66 Game 5 win but dropped two close results in Games 6 (83-87) and 7 (83-87).
And that’s exactly the reason why Cone is guarding his squad against complacency especially heading into the pivotal Game 6 on Sunday. The team cannot get too carried away by the Game 5 win and it has to stay locked in.
“It’s too easy to get too euphoric with a 3-2 lead and think you’re right there. You’re not. We’ve got a lot of work to do. A lot of things went our way tonight, which is great. I mean, we’re fortunate, but we’ve got to move on. And be locked in,” said Cone.
