MANILA, Philippines – There is nothing to worry about Barangay Ginebra stars Scottie Thompson and Christian Standhardinger.

Head coach Tim Cone said Thompson and Standhardinger are just fine after he sat the two out down the stretch in their 76-72 loss to NLEX that marked the end of the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round on Sunday, May 5.

Cone subbed out Thompson with two minutes remaining in the third quarter and the former league MVP never returned, finishing with a season-low-tying 4 points on top of 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

Meanwhile, Standhardinger – who ended up with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists – rode the bench for the final seven minutes.

According to Cone, he wanted the rest of the team to find other ways to win, feeling the Gin Kings were too reliant on Thompson and Standhardinger.

“Nothing happened to Scottie, nothing happened to Christian. I just needed guys to go out there. Sometimes we rely too much on Christian and Scottie. Guys kind of forget to play on their own,” Cone said.

But even without its two main weapons in the endgame, Ginebra gave the Road Warriors a run for their money behind Stanley Pringle.

Pringle scattered 7 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter and added 6 rebounds as he played his best game – at least, statistically – in a month after averaging just 3.0 points and 3.2 rebounds over the last five games.

“It was important for us to get Stanley out there in that stretch. We need Stanley to step up and play that kind of level and we just felt like that was an opportunity to get him out there,” said Cone.

“Without having to look for Scottie and look for Christian, he kind of have to look for himself and that was kind of the point: playing the other guys down the stretch.”

Although the loss snapped their four-game winning streak, the Gin Kings gave Thompson and Standhardinger an extra breather and provided Pringle a confidence boost before the quarterfinals roll out on Friday, May 10.

Those three players are expected to play key roles when Ginebra – toting a twice-to-beat advantage as the second seed – battles No. 7 Magnolia in another edition of the Clasico. – Rappler.com