IF there’s someone who fully knows San Miguel Beer is more than capable of bouncing back, it’s Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Cone and the Kings typified fortitude when they essayed a 99-94 victory in Game 3 last Sunday after absorbing a sorry 125-131 overtime loss in Game 2 last Friday.
“No matter what happens to you, you have got to find a way to move forward. Whether it’s a good thing or bad thing, you gotta focus on what’s ahead of you,” Cone said. “There’s a real art in moving on when it comes to basketball and sports, and I think that’s a real valuable tool even in life.
“Whether we lose or whether we win, we have to continue to move on and look at the next game or look at the next thing. We’re not gonna dwell on, ‘We could’ve,’ or ‘We should have,’ the bottom line is this is where we are right now, and this is what we’re gonna deal with,” he added.
Whether Cone’s charges can topple the Beermen anew will be known when they clash tonight in Game 4 of their best-of-7 semifinals showdown in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The game is set at 7:30 p.m., with the Kings, armed with a 2-1 lead, bent on pushing SMB to the brink in the race-to-4 series.
Ditto with defending champion TNT, which is determined to make up for a heart-rending 109-110 defeat to Rain or Shine in Game 3 also last Sunday and move within a win of the Big Dance.
The two-day respite should reinvigorate the combatants in the Last Four, especially his team, according to Cone.
“We’re trying our best to keep June Mar (Fajardo) moving and play hard. We prefer them not having an extra day off, but this is something we need as well, so we’re gonna both cherish this, I think. We’ll try to recover our bodies,” Cone said. “I know Justin’s (Brownlee) gonna love it, and hopefully, he’ll be recharged to go. It’s important, I think, to have some extended breaks because it keeps the quality of the game high. When you can come in and play fresh, it keeps the quality of the game high.
“When both teams are worn out, sometimes the quality can go away. So, I like the fact that we’re getting a couple of days off.”
Ginebra will draw strength from the likes of Brownlee, former MVP Scottie Thompson, veteran big man Japeth Aguilar, Stephen Holt, and rookie RJ Abarrientos.
Aside from Fajardo, the reigning eight-time MVP, SMB will also count on reinforcement EJ Anosike, CJ Perez, Terrence Romeo, Jericho Cruz, and Don Trollano.
“I guess we lost the first two games because we turned the ball over a lot, giving them the opportunities to score in transition,” Elasto Painters tactician Yeng Guiao said.
“We managed some of our turnovers, and it became a high-scoring game where our chances of winning are better.”
The Kings and the Tropang Giga intend to pull closer to a title rematch, but the Beermen and Rain or Shine are out to give them a run for their money.
