PBA: San Mig’s Cone, Pingris see tough battle ’til the end

MANILA, Philippines – Fabled head coach Tim Cone has been involved in many championship series, winning 15 PBA titles, but only one specific title series resonated when Cone saw his San Mig Super Coffee Mixers suffer to defeat in Game 5: The 2012 Governors Cup Finals between B-Meg and Rain or Shine.

The Llamados trailed the Elasto Painters 1-3 in that series, but were able to force a Game 7 after registering back-to-back wins. However, Jeff Chan ended their hopes of pulling a miraculous upset, and the gunner was hailed as Finals MVP

A little more than a year later, Cone engages in another battle of endurance with the same squad, hoping they can reverse their fortunes and deal the Elasto Painters revenge. That redemption wouldn’t come in Game 5 after the Elasto Painters found a way to claw back and repulse the Mixers, 81-74.

Focus, not fatigue

Although Cone admits it would be unfair to say they haven’t been playing tired, he believes fatigue isn’t the main culprit for their game 5 setback.

“We lacked focus and concentration,” Cone said after Sunday’s affair.

“We were not really tired but we just lacked focus. We’ll use the next few days to regenerate and come out and put the game together on Wednesday.”

And instead of letting the physical exhaustion get to them, the PBA title-winningest head coach (tied with Virgilio ‘Baby’ Dalupan) says they’ve got enough gas left in the tank.

“We’ve been going at it since the conference before. We only had a week’s break and played again. We’ve been tired all the way to the playoffs. We’re tired but we still got something left. We have to keep pushing.”

Will ‘Pingris power’ show in Game 6?

Energetic forward Marc Pingris, who suffered an eye injury after getting hit by JR Quinahan on a rebound play in Game 4, returned and powered San Mig with a heroic performance of 18 points and 15 boards.

Sadly, his memorable showing went down the drain. He knows it was Jeff Chan’s time.

“Gabi ni Jeff eh. Adjust kami next game, kukunin namin kahit gaano kahirap,” he shared. (It was Jeff’s night. We’ll adjust in the next game and we will take it no matter how daunting a task it is)

Pingris, the Finals MVP of the 2013 PBA Governors Cup, says he’ll come out undeterred, full of energy and with the sole mission of claiming his 5th PBA title.

“Gusto ko lang maglaro at bigyan ng energy yung team ko. Binigay namin lahat pero mas gutom sila ngayong gabi. Babawi kami.” (I just wanted to play and give energy to my team. We gave our best but they were hungrier tonight. We will bounce back) – Rappler.com