Cone slams ‘unfair’ officiating narrative
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Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone is sick to the stomach about what he called an unfair narrative thrown at his team in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup finals.
The Kings failed to finish off defending champion TNT in Game 6 on Sunday as the best-of-seven title series rematch got dragged into another winner-take-all affair.
Rubbing salt to the wound following Ginebra’s 90-98 defeat is the jab on the Kings getting aid from the referees in their wins.
“I’m just getting really tired of the idea that when we win it’s always because we got favored by the referees and when they win it’s always about great coaching and great play,” the decorated tactician said in the aftermath of a stinging loss in front of a 22,731-strong Sunday crowd that packed the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“It’s a narrative that’s getting really old and I’m really, I mean really starting to bother me a little bit and I think it’s unfair.”
Cone slammed accusations that unjustly took away the hard work and effort of his wards in winning Games 1, 3 and 5.
In fact, as much as Tropang 5G coach Chot Reyes criticized officiating in their losses, Cone himself felt they have their fair share of bad calls and non-calls.
“I coached against the Ginebra for 27 years and it’s just gotten to a point where this is crazy. It’s referees for us, great coaching, great play for them,” the 68-year-old mentor added.
The 25-time champion coach, however, admitted TNT import Chris McCullough played an awesome night in torching the Kings with 53 points on 20-of-36 shooting from the field.
McCullough scored a point higher from his counterpart Justin Brownlee and grabbed 22 boards with two assists, a steal and a block. He scored 11 of TNT’s last 13 points of the game.
“But I’ll be the first to admit McCullough was awesome tonight. He had shots, we couldn’t control him all game long. We challenged him from the outside and he made the big shots from the outside. The last two shots he made the three and a four broke our backs,” Cone said.
Both teams will have two days of rest before Wednesday’s Game 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Cone hopes there will be no repeat of last year’s edition when Ginebra squandered a 3-2 series advantage.
