Cold shooting, turnovers worry Cone

Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone easily identified the factors that pushed his team back against the wall in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup semifinals series against San Miguel Beer.

Cone pointed at the Kings’ disastrous combination of terrible shooting and atrocious number of turnovers as the main culprits in their 2-3 deficit in the best-of-seven series.

“Still haven’t had a good shooting night this whole series. We have not shot the ball well,” Cone lamented following the Kings’ 92-103 loss in Game 5 Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ginebra lost two in a row in a showdown that was back-and-forth in the first four meetings.

The Kings shot 37 percent from the field in Game 5, including a horrendous 7-of-24 three-point sniping.

Ginebra has been shooting 41.6 percent from the field in the series.

“Hoping that would come around at some point. Maybe on Sunday. So, let’s see,” Cone said with high hopes of surviving a must-win situation today at the Big Dome.

Throwing away their possessions is also a cause for concern for the 25-time PBA champion mentor.

A total of 16 turnovers, including crucial ones in the end game, did the Kings in Game 5. The Beermen converted those Ginebra miscues to 24 turnover points.

“We made a couple, two or three or probably three or four even, crucial errors at the wrong time that led them stretch it out down the stretch. It wasted a good performance by us,” Cone said.

The Kings turned the ball over five times in the final period.

Two miscues by Japeth Aguilar and Maverick Ahanmisi inside the last three minutes spoiled Ginebra’s comeback attempt after closing in by just two points. San Miguel took advantage of the opportunity to pull away for good.

“It’s obvious we made some really bad mistakes that allowed them to stretch the lead,” Cone said.

All Cone could hope for now is a positive response from his players to stay alive in the chase for a third straight finals appearance.

“The old cliché is, it takes four to win, it doesn’t take three. It’s not a five-game series, it’s a seven-game series,” he stressed.