Back to the drawing board for Ginebra
MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone had precious little to say after the Gin Kings were defeated by TNT KaTropa, 88-71, in Game 2 of their semis series in the PBA Commissioner's Cup on Sunday evening.
Ginebra narrowly lost Game 1, 95-92, and stayed toe-to-toe with TNT in the first quarter. But the KaTropa waxed hot from beyond the arc in the second frame to pull away, and broke the game open completely in the third period.
The loss put Ginebra, the defending Commissioner's Cup champions, on the brink
of elimination as they went down 0-2 in the best-of-5 semifinals series.
"What do you want me to say?" Cone asked upon his exit from the Ginebra dugout at the Araneta Coliseum.
"We played terrible, and they played great," he conceded.
But Cone and the Gin Kings are not giving up so easily.
"We'll see what we can do. Back to the drawing board on Game 3," said the multititled mentor.
For Ginebra import Justin Brownlee, they need to go back to what has always worked for their team – and that is to live up to their "never say die" mantra.
"Just to be honest, just having that never-say-die type of attitude," said Brownlee of their approach to Tuesday's Game 3. "I know coach is definitely gonna make some adjustments, being down 0-2."
There is plenty of work to be done on both ends of the floor for Ginebra, after they gave up 16 three-pointers to TNT, while going only 5-of23 from beyond the arc.
Ginebra did limit TNT import Terrence Jones to only 15 points, but the former NBA player carved up their defense for 10 assists and grabbed 19 rebounds.
"We just gotta come in (on Monday) and see what (Cone) has to say," Brownlee said. "And then, approach the game with a never-say-die type of attitude."
TNT vowed to be prepared for whatever adjustments that Ginebra will make on Tuesday.
"I mean, (Cone is) the most winningest coach over here for a reason. He'd have been in this situation before, I'm sure, and come back and won. So, he'll have some ideas about what he's gonna do against us, but we're gonna make adjustments again too, and come back and be ready to play Game 3," said TNT consultant Mark Dickel. (Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News)