Ginebra on a ‘working holiday’ ahead of semis

Barangay Ginebra spent a “working holiday” preparing for a grueling semifinals clash with streaking defending champion San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup starting Sunday.

But despite the little time to recover and build up for the best-of-seven showdown, Kings head coach Tim Cone is not complaining.

“The fact that we came from dead to the semifinals, and we’re ecstatic about that,” the mentor said after Ginebra survived a twice-to-beat disadvantage in the quarterfinals against a young Converge side.

The Kings banked on the heroics of Stephen Holt, hitting the game-winning triple at the buzzer in a 99-98 overtime win last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Channeling its vaunted never-say-die spirit in a do-or-die initial phase of the playoffs, Ginebra advanced to a rematch of last season’s all-Filipino conference Final Four.

“We better be doing this than taking a break and figuring out what we’re going to do with our lives,” said the 25-time PBA champion mentor.

“We got, at least we got purpose right now, we’re happy we have purpose,” he added.

After struggling at the start of the season-opening conference, losing three of their first four games, the Kings are now on a roll.

Ginebra has won its last seven games.

Holt hopes the Kings sustain the momentum heading into the match against the Beermen, who hold the longest active win streak in the tournament at 10 straight.  

“We’re so hungry, like I said, we’re playing the best basketball of the season right now, so we just want to continue that momentum, continue that work, and, you know, just let the chips fall when they meet,” the third-year guard said.

“But we’re just definitely feeling very confident right now.”

San Miguel beat Ginebra in a tight seven-game series last season that ended the Kings’ back-to-back finals appearances in Season 49.