MANILA – Veteran head coach Tim Cone considers Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings’ championship run in the 2021-2022 PBA Governors’ Cup as a remarkable feat.
According to Cone, he did not expect the Gin Kings to go all the way to coronation following their dethronement in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup last year.
““It’s a little bit shocking for us because we were so very down at one point we barely reached the bottom of the barrel,” Cone said after the Kings’ title-clinching win over Meralco Bolts on Friday
“There was a point where I don’t think we’re gonna be emerging and make a statement this conference. But again, we have a very veteran team,” he added.
“We have great veteran leadership and the leadership really stepped up. I remember them talking about it and then we would start practicing and it was the leaders who actually lifted their level of play in practice,” he further said.
It was not an easy conference for the Gin Kings after losing veteran Stanley Pringe to a knee injury and the squad suffering four-game losing skid to drop to seventh place in the standings.
In the quarterfinals, the Kings overcame the twice-to-beat advantage of TNT Tropang Giga. They also defeated NLEX Road Warriors in four games in the semis.
In the best-of-seven finale, the Kings suffered defeat in Games 1 and 3 before the defending champions snagged three straight wins to secure the title.
“I am shocked that we’re here. But NSD, we’re a team that doesn’t quit. We had that legacy, and it’s always an honor and a curse to try to live up to that all the time. It’s really hard to live up to, but these guys find ways to live up to that,” Cone said.
“But if this happened to us in the bubble, when we had that bad start, we wouldn’t have been able to overcome. But when we started playing better basketball, the fans started to go crazy and that lifted us up and kept us moving forward,” he added.
“And everybody started to follow, and suddenly we started playing better basketball. And it led to this point and to this championship So, gotta give credit to the leadership of the team,” further said./PN
