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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, February 26, 2017
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WITH THE start of the second half of NBA season, several teams have boosted its lineup during the trade deadline last Thursday night (Friday morning in Manila) to make a final playoffs push.
New Orleans Pelicans made the boldest move when it acquired center Demarcus Cousins from the Sacramento Kings during the NBA All-Star Weekend. Cousins now form a deadly frontline duo with Anthony Davis.
Dallas Mavericks also got an added help by acquiring youthful center Nerlens Noel from Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for James Anderson and Andrew Bogut, who is set to be released to free agency.
Also boosting its playoff hopes is Eastern Conference third placer Toronto Raptors, who after acquiring veteran forward Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic, has got another scorer in PJ Tucker.
Oklahoma City Thunders also got a much-needed help inside with the acquisition of Taj Gibson from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for some reserves, while the Houston Rockets got another scorer in Lou Williams.
Defending champion Cleveland Cavalier and Golden State Warriors, the frontrunners in the Eastern and Western Conference divisions, did not make a move but showed interest in signing up free agent players.
The Cavaliers will be waiting for point guard Deron Williams, who was released by the Mavericks, to become free agent to sign him as Lebron James’ “fucking backup point guard.”
The Warriors, which is eyeing for another center after releasing undersized Anderson Varejao, is reportedly looking to bring back Bogut. The remainder of the NBA season is definitely going to be exciting.
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Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings head coach Tim Cone was a face of frustration following their 109-82 loss to San Miguel Beermen in Game 1 of the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals last Friday night.
But the 19-time PBA champion coach said that their 27-point loss in the championship series is not yet a cause of concern for the Kings, which is not new from coming back from series deficits.
“We were horrible all the way through the game from start to finish. We weren’t ready,” a frustrated Cone told the media. “But (that loss) will not be an indication of how the rest series will be.”
“The blame is on me. I did not prepare my players well (for Game 1). But it’s just one game. There’s no pogi points in winning by forty or thirty points in a series,” added the American mentor.
“It’s only about Ws and Ls, and they’re one game closer to a championship and we’re one game farther back. But again, it doesn’t matter if you lose by thirty or one point. It’s all the same,” he said.
Cone said that he intends to stick to their game plan in Game 2 and just have some minor adjustments since their plan only did not result good in the series opener due to their poor shooting.
“We know who we are. We know we can play,” Cone said. “We had a bad night tonight, they had a great night. They’re very, very good and we’re not very, very bad. We wouldn’t be here if we were.”
“We could talk about this game all we want, but the bottomline is we didn’t have it tonight,” he added. “It’s over with and we move on. We’re not going to allow this game to define us.”/PN
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