Barangay Ginebra finally gets a much-needed respite from the grueling Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup finals.

A two-day rest is already a luxury for the weary Kings as the best-of-seven series against defending champion TNT heads into the crucial stretch this week.

The first three matches of the title rematch were scheduled every other day, leaving little time to rest and recover for both teams.

Workhorse Justin Brownlee, veteran Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson and RJ Abarrientos all need recovery time and therapy following a highly physical contest.

Good thing Ginebra is already ahead in the series, 2-1, following a 116-102 victory in Game 3 last Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

For head coach Tim Cone, the main concern now is keeping the Kings’ momentum going despite the short pause.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s no perfect way to do it. There’s no perfect way to take the two-day break. But I’m sure if you ask Justin, he’s happy there are two days before the next game,” Cone said.

“Basically, we’re just going to try to do the rehab and do the recovery and rest as much as we can without getting soft and understanding that we got to come back real strong, you know, in a Game 4.”

The pivotal Game 4 is on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Cone, however, finds it difficult to get the right formula to ensure his team remains red-hot while staying relaxed.

“I’ve tried all different kinds of ways to do it, and nothing seems to work exactly. You try to repeat it, but it doesn’t work the second time. You do something right the first time,” the 25-time champion coach said.

“So, you know, we’ll basically do it by instinct and feel by observation and seeing how tired Justin is, how tired RJ, Scottie, all those guys are, and that’ll dictate how we handle these next two days.”

Getting a win in the series hasn’t been easy.

All games were hard to predict even if one side already established a double-digit lead.

TNT gave Ginebra a scare after rallying from 18 points down before the Kings escaped with a 102-100 series opening victory behind the heroics of Brownlee, hitting a banker with 0.6 seconds left.

Ginebra returned the favor and gave the Tropang 5G some anxious moments in Game 2 when the Kings cut a once-imposing 22-point lead to just four before TNT pulled through 101-94.

Cone’s crew, led by Brownlee’s 41-point explosion, halted the trend by maintaining a safe distance after erecting a 22-point advantage in the first half.

“I don’t think that, you know, in a finals game, I don’t think everybody realizes how difficult it is to get an early lead and keep that lead all the way through the game,” Cone said.

“It’s really hard to do in a finals game, so I got to tip my cap to our players.”

Cone can only hope Ginebra will be able to do the same in the next game to better their chances of ending a three-year title drought.