The first and only PBA bubble champions.

Tim Cone hopes Barangay Ginebra will carry that title for decades to come as the Gin Kings came out on top of a roller-coaster Philippine Cup that had to be staged in a bubble in Pampanga.

“[When] we look back on this one, I think that we’ll just be amazed at how this all evolved and how it all came together and and how we actually ended up winning that championship,” said Cone.

“Hopefully there is going to be only one bubble championship and if there is only one bubble championship, we got it. That is so cool.”

Cone has won it all throughout his three-decade coaching career in the PBA – 23 championships and 2 Grand Slams to be exact.

But to capture a title in an unusual setting without spectators sure has a different meaning to it.

“Twenty to thirty years from now, maybe when they look back and they say, ‘You know that bubble championship?’ They’ll remember our team because we had the most unique championship in the history of the PBA.”

Cone, though, admitted he had doubts about the Gin Kings winning the crown, their first in the All-Filipino conference in 13 years.

Veterans Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio both entered the bubble not at their best shape and big man Greg Slaughter took a break from the PBA and did not join the team.

But Ginebra opened its campaign with a 4-0 start, reached the quarterfinals as the top seed, survived Meralco in the semifinals, and toppled TNT in 5 games in the finals to bag the title.

“I said after the game that there was so much out-of-the-box thinking that had to go into being successful here. I think you really had to think out of the box,” Cone said.

“[O]ur guys really battled for this.”

Cone added the fact that the Gin Kings experienced the same grind of an entire conference compressed in two months makes the championship more memorable.

“[W]e went through a whole elimination period, we went through a whole playoff, and still was able to pull it out and win the championship. That is amazing, I think,” Cone said.

“It is just so unique and I think it is going to be remembered forever and it is nice to have that legacy. Our players, even our young rookies, they’re going to remember this bubble championship.” – Rappler.com