Cone sees tough grind but stays confident

Despite a roller-coaster campaign, Barangay Ginebra remains upbeat of its chances in the postelims play after making it to the PBA Philippine Cup playoff round with a convincing win over NLEX last Sunday.

“We’ve taken a lot of big punches and we’re still standing and we still have a chance,” said coach Tim Cone after the Gin Kings hurdled the NLEX Road Warriors, 90-80, to book their quarters entry.

“It’s been a tough conference for us. But at least we’re avoiding (top seed) San Miguel Beer, and that’s good news for us. We’ll rather see them later if we can,” Cone also said, anticipating a seventh-place finish at the close of the single-round-robin elims phase tomorrow.

Alaska Milk and Star go for a No. 2 finish while Rain or Shine takes its fourth and last shot at an outright quarterfinals entry in the last playdate of the elims at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Hotshots take on the ousted Mahindra Floodbuster at 4:15 p.m. while the Aces and the Elasto Painters clash in a virtual playof duel at 7 p.m. A win by the Aces makes them the No. 2 playoff seed with a twice-to-beat advantage versus the No. 7 team.

Meanwhile, a victory by the E- Painters automatically carries ROS into the Last Eight, avoiding a do-or-die playoff with the Blackwater Elite for the eighth and last quarters slot.

Another possible scenario is a seven-way tie at second place among Alaska, Star, TNT KaTropa, GlobalPort, Rain or Shine, Ginebra and Phoenix at 6-5. Playoff seedings will then be determined by the quotient system.

Cone expects Ginebra to finish at No. 7 and would play a team with a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarters.

“We have a tough, long journey,” said Cone, hoping that in the next few days, Japeth Aguilar recovers from his injury and regains his post strength.