Coaches expect finals to go the distance
Credit to Author: Josef T. Ramos, TMT| Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2020 16:17:44 +0000
Both head coaches are expecting the best-of-seven championship series between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco in Season 44 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup to go the full distance.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the Meralco Bolts they would meet in the championship round would be a different breed from the team they beat in the Governors’ Cup of the 2016 and 2017 season finals.
With half of their lineup new with the addition of Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi and rookie Bong Quinto this season, the upgraded Bolts not only secured the No. 2 spot of the elimination with an 8-3 win-loss record but also beat Alaska in the quarterfinals and TNT KaTropa in five games of the semifinals.
But Cone, who hopes to win his 22nd PBA crown, is unperturbed.
“We plan on playing in Game 7,” he said during the Governors’ Cup Finals news conference on Saturday at the Sambokojin restaurant in Eastwood Libis, Quezon City.
“I thought it could go to a Game 10 if it’s necessary. I mean if it’s a possibility. For me, I really don’t want to predict how far we go,” he added.
“We tried to watch the players’ minutes and the practice time so we don’t wear them out. So we have something left in Game 7. But obviously if we could finish it early, we’d like to, they would like to finish it early, we would like to finish it early. But you know, I think our feelings it will go down to a Game 7.”
Ginebra conquered Meralco in six games in 2016 and seven games in 2017 of the Governors’ Cup Finals behind its prolific reinforcement Justin Brownlee, who spent his Christmas and New Year celebration here in Manila.
Meralco coach Norman Black, however, is equally unshaken.
Also a grand slam coach, Black said Meralco had what it takes to survive even if the series would go down to a sudden-death Game 7.
“We feel like we’re in good shape. We tried to pace our players throughout the entire conference and made sure they would stay fresh,” said Black, adding that playing good basketball is the only key to winning the title.
“I don’t think rating them at this point is going to make any difference. We are out to win just like they are. Always tell the players if you want to win the championship, then you just have to play good basketball.”
“When it comes down to offensively and defensively, you have to be prepared, you have to be able to attack whatever they are doing defensively, you have to defend whatever they are attacking you with, and just play good basketball on the court,” added Black.
Black is looking for his 12th PBA title and hoping to hand Meralco its first title since joining the league in 2010.
Despite losing his two finals stints against Ginebra in the 2016 and 2017 Governors’ Cup, Black is letting go of the past.
“I can’t bring back the past that already has happened, but I can worry about the present and the future and just concentrate the job at hand which is to win the championship,” he said.