Kings, Cone survive scare

I’m just so happy that we didn’t have to go through a Game 5.

Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone was glad to survive NorthPort in Game 4 of their Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown late Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Cone, the league’s most successful mentor, admitted that the Batang Pier gave them a scare following a heart-crushing 90-124 setback in Game 1.

But since then, the Kings were in control as they took the next three games, including a massive 120-107 win in Game 4, to wrap the series and march to the best-of-seven finals showdown against either TNT KaTropa or Meralco, who are still playing at press time.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals tips off on 8 January.

Interestingly, Cone has a flawless record against the KaTropa and the Bolts in the finals of any conference with imports.

He beat the KaTropa thrice and the Bolts twice, creating a mental note that he can easily lead the Kings to another title of this season-ending conference.

Still, making it to the finals without going through a grueling Game 5 excites the noted American mentor.

“It’s good that there won’t be a fifth game anymore. I’m just so happy that we didn’t have to go through a Game 5,” said Cone, the owner of two PBA grand-slam jewels.

The Batang Pier had four consecutive knockout games, starting the elimination round to secure their spot in the playoffs and then in the quarterfinals, where they took down NLEX despite being the number eight seed and having a twice-to-beat disadvantage.

Cone knew how dangerous the Batang Pier could be when they face them in a sudden-death duel.

And he’s glad that they don’t have to go through that.

“As what we were talking about in the locker room, this team was in a twice-to-beat situation earlier and it showed great character against the top team in NLEX. They have great character. So winning over them in four games is really a welcome development,” he said, looking to lead the Kings back to the title for the first time since 2017.

“We knew they had the character in them to play us. The thing that I appreciate is our guys came out focus and ready and we didn’t take anything for granted and we had our game faces on from the very beginning.”