As the Gin Kings shoot for a commanding 2-0 lead in their semis duel against TNT KaTropa in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup playoffs, Cone is well aware of what to expect.
The Gin Kings and the Texters meet again at 7 p.m. today to resume their semis series, with the venue shifting to the Batangas City Coliseum in Batangas.
In a sprint of a series, Cone knows the importance of his team being ahead early but he also knows the effect it can have to the opposition.
“Game 2 is going to be exciting. That’s for sure,” said Cone. “We’re happy we played like that to start the series, but on the other hand, we just filled their bag with a whole lot of motivation to bounce back.”
Ginebra opened the series with a big bang, producing a 27-point massacre, 121-94, of TNT in a lopsided Game 1 stand Monday night.
The Gin Kings fired from all cylinders as the Tropang Texters simply had no answer, allowing the former to easily take a 1-0 edge in the series and draw first blood.
Knowing the need to bounce back to avoid a huge 0-2 hole, TNT coach Nash Racela knows his team needs to be at its best to beat Ginebra, just like when it was the one who manhandled the Gin Kings in their elimination round encounter.
“We were outplayed, outcoached and outhustled. It’s a reversal from our game in the elimination round. We now have to respond,” said Racela. “If we’re not better, we’ll lose two straight.”
Ginebra imposed its will down low as its size advantage is clearly taking TNT out of its comfort zone.
The gigantic interior core of Joe Devance, Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter and Justin Brownlee is reigning supreme and it is for the Texters to find a way to slow them down to be able to have a better shot.
“We want to take advantage of our size. That’s for sure. We got Greg and Japeth down there and we look to continue to have an advantage there,” said Brownlee.