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THE INJURIES and that great 15-point comeback down in Game 2 were the turning point of the PBA Philippines Cup Bubble Finals.
Looking back, winning coach Tim Cone cited the two as the key factors that he felt greatly helped the Kings’ cause win the championship at the expense of a TnT team that was affected by injuries to two of its key players.
“Injuries were probably more the turning point of the series to be honest,” Cone said when asked to look back on the first best-of-seven final that took place inside a bubble and that Barangay Geneva won in five games.
Two TnT stalwarts in Ray Parks Jr. and veteran frontman Jayson Castro healed injuries over the course of the series.
Parks only dressed in the first game of the series and then sat the rest of the series due to a left calf strain, while Castro played three and a half games before falling with a painful knee injury from spurs. bone.
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The absence of the two definitely hurt the Tropang Giga campaign, according to Cone. But you are not taking credit from your team.
Cone noted that the Kings’ 92-90 victory in the comeback in Game 2 was “very lucky for us.”
Geneva trailed to 15, 41-56, at the 7:16 mark in the third quarter when Cone decided to deepen his rotation and went with veterans Jeff Chan and Jared Dillinger along with Prince Caperal and Aljon Mariano. Stanley Pringle was the only starter the Geneva coach left on the court.
While Cone used to rest his starters when they were down by a large margin to preserve them for the next game, this time around he felt the match was still winnable at the time.
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“I will do it many times, but this particular time, I thought we did not because we are still thinking about trying to win that game,” Cone said looking back. “LA (Tenorio) and Scottie (Thompson) were on the bench that time, and it was more of Jared and Jeff.”
Dillinger and Chan found their shots and returned Guinevere to the game. Before the period ended, the Kings were down by just two points.
“They (Jared and Jeff) had a great race for us. Those two guys have fire at the right time, so we ended up winning the basketball game, “Cone said.
The victory gave Geneva a 2-0 lead in the series.
“It’s very difficult to win that Game 2 after winning that Game 1 against a really good team,” emphasized the Geneva mentor. “When you get a 2-0 lead in a series, that’s big. You always want to win Game 1, and then if you find a way to win Game 2, then you’re in control of the series. “
The Kings did.
While they lost the next game by a mile, 67-88, the Kings did not refuse, especially after Castro was finally sidelined with a knee injury in Game 4.
It was only a matter of time before Geneva concluded the title series.
“Our guys really fought for this. I know a lot of people are going to watch Talk ‘N Text and say they’ve had injuries, which is absolutely true, “Cone said.
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“But that’s basketball, that’s how it works.” “I’ve been on the other side of that. I’ve lost championships because of injured players, so I know how difficult it is.
“So there’s a lot that goes into winning championships, and one of them is health, and we were lucky to keep our faith and we were lucky that TnT did not maintain his health.”
