Barangay Ginebra San Miguel head coach Tim Cone was still happy with how they played despite a 70-73 loss to Hong Kong Eastern in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City last Sunday.

Cone, who drew 26 points from Japeth Aguilar, said facing a guest team from overseas fuels their drive to do better as they are not only representing themselves but also the league and the country as well.

It was the Kings’ first loss in the midseason conference after starting their campaign with a 109-100 win over NLEX Road Warriors and a 94-72 win over Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters last week.

“We didn’t play well. We didn’t shoot the ball well and yet we almost had a chance to win,” said Cone, who is also the chief tactician for Gilas Pilipinas.

“So that was character.”

“We kept battling and fighting. We willed ourselves to stay in the game even though we weren’t playing well. So that bodes well for us down the line.”

Ginebra actually had a bad shooting night against the Hong Kong-based team and fans wondered how the squad was able to keep the game close.

For one, the Kings shot 1-of-19 from three-point range and 31-of-72 from the field overall.

Ginebra also posted 27-of-39 from the free-throw line for a 69 percent clip.

Yet the Kings were able to almost come back from a 13-point deficit had that last-second triple from Scottie Thompson went in.

Cone admitted fatigue might have been a factor on why the Kings lost to Eastern, which now has a 5-1 record.

“We just couldn’t get our legs underneath us after playing two games in the last couple of days. We basically did everything we could to lose the game,” Cone said.

“This is a game that we wanted to win because we’re representing the league. But you know, you’re going to have a good loss, which is a good loss for us.”