By REYNALD MAGALLON
At one point in any of his 26 championships — which is the most by any coach in the PBA — Ginebra head coach Tim Cone was surely asked about how the recent title differed from the previous one.
And Cone has a stock answer: “The next one is going to be my favorite.”
But at this point, the 68-year-old mentor felt like he is appreciating the recent championships more, realizing that being a coach in the PBA is far from being permanent.
“It’s special, each one of them,” said Cone.
“And they’re getting more and more special the older I get because I know that it’s not an infinite number anymore. Before when I was, you know, 35, 40, you know, didn’t think about the end,” he added.
And the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup title which Ginebra won 88-76 against TNT in Game 7 is particularly the hardest to get, considering that the Kings lost all of their last three meetings in the championship rounds.
It was a three-year agonizing wait for Ginebra to win the Commissioner’s Cup against Bay Area Dragons in 2023. Cone has eight championships with Ginebra but also achieved Grand Slams with San Mig Coffee and Alaska.
But while Cone is cherishing every title and every championship run has its own story to tell, the multi-titled mentor said winning can never get old for him
“I was saying earlier before everybody arrived that the last two days have been just horrid, waiting for this Game 7 to happen. It’s just been a really, really tough two days,” said Cone.
“Tough on my family, tough on friends. I just was really out of it for the last two days, just getting ready for this Game 7. There’s still that excitement. There’s still that bad stomach and bad sleep. And that’s all part of it,” he added.
“But so it’s not getting old.”
