Cone praises Thompson for Jaworski-like rebounding

Scottie Thompson sank one of the biggest shots of his career in Ginebra’s nail-biting 83-80 do-or-die victory over the Meralco Bolts on Friday, November 27. 

The corner three-pointer by Thompson with less than a second left propelled the Gin Kings to the PBA Philippine Cup finals for the first time since 2017, and arranged a finals showdown against the TNT Tropang Giga.

Other than his game-winning shot, though, what also stood out in the Game 5 victory is Thompson’s all-around play as he filled up the stat sheet once again, grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds, along with 20 points and 7 assists.

“We do the same thing in practice. He does that in practice as well,” said Cone of Thompson’s rebounding. “We already told our guys, if you could learn to box out Scottie, you could box out anybody, I mean, you could box out LeBron James.”

Cone, the winningest coach in the PBA with 22 titles, also compared Thompson to PBA legend Robert Jaworski in terms of their knack for rebounding. 

“The only guy that I really saw to be able to do that, he did it a little differently in his career I think, was Sonny Jaworski at guard. Talking about as guard and to be able to dominate on the boards as Scottie does,” added Cone.

Jaworski, who stands at 6-foot-1, has a career average of 5.6 rebounds. The former PBA MVP also once averaged 10.2 boards during his prime.

On the other hand, Thompson, who also stands at 6-foot-1, is currently leading the Gin Kings in the rebounding department in the 2020 Philippine Cup, averaging close to 9 boards per game, thus getting the comparison with the ‘’Big J”.

“That’s just a special skill that he has, he has the nose for the ball. I know that every team puts a guy on him (Thompson) to box him out and then they still can’t do it. We’ve been seeing that for 3 years now and nobody could box him out,” Cone emphasized.

“It’s just his great will and desire. It’s just really hard to keep that focus to box out a guy that’s coming from way over there, way over there, way over there, you don’t know where he’s coming from. He’s amazing,” Cone continued.

Thompson, who averaged 8.6 boards in the semifinals series against the Bolts, will now look to continue his stellar play on the glass as he braces for TNT’s frontline of Poy Erram and Troy Rosario, as well as guard Ray Parks, who are all averaging 8 rebounds per outing.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series between Barangay Ginebra and TNT kicks off on Sunday, November 29 at 6 pm. – Rappler.com