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SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – Tim Cone said he is aware of those alleged conspiracy theories circulating after Barangay Ginebra unraveled in a 66-81 loss to defending PBA Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer .
But the veteran coach simply felt that the Kings didn’t have the legs to compete against even an injured opponent, even if his burning desire is to beat the biggest thorn in the Kings’ bid to win the most prestigious conference in recent years. .
Cone admitted that his team’s 86-79 victory against top contender TnT Tropang Giga took its toll on the Kings.
“I assure you that I want to beat San Miguel more than anyone else,” Cone said. “We only have dead legs tonight. We were 4 of 31 from 3-point line. I don’t know what happened with TnT against us. We only have dead legs.”
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The loss led Barangay Geneva to a tie with TnT for first place at 7-3. The Kings hope to beat Terrafirma on Monday in the second of their consecutive games to clinch the No. 1 seed heading for the playoffs.
Geneva will continue to rank first even if it ends up with a similar record with TnT under the ‘winner over other’ rule.
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If there’s anyone who really benefited, it’s San Miguel, as they improved to a 6-4 record in a group of four with Alaska, Meralco and Magnolia to stay in contention for a top-4 finish and a lead twice. major in the playoffs.
A loss could have left the reigning champs on the brink of elimination, hence the perception that the Kings didn’t play hard enough to win over their sister team.
Cone played leading scorer Stanley Pringle for just 19 minutes, while another Geneva star, LA Tenorio, was scoreless in a game in which most of the second in-between ended the game for the Gin Kings.
However, the two-time Grand Slam winner said he was already thinking about the “big picture” by then.
“The bottom line is, I know some of the fans are going to be a little upset with us, but I’ve gotten used to that. But we’re just trying to think about the big picture,” Cone said.
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“And the big picture is that we’re trying really hard to get back into that game with our key players and then turn around and play KIA tomorrow and risk losing that game because we’re dead tired. Make sense.”
