Tim Cone believes Kings lost because they just couldn’t make their shots

Tim Cone feels that the Barangay Ginebra crew has enough to keep Myles Powell.

The return of the hotshot guard, in fact, had nothing to do with the Gin Kings being too low in finishing the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup title and the Grand Slam coach considered something else to be the culprit.

“We did what we wanted defensively,” Cone said, following the Gin Kings’ 87-84 loss against Bay Area on Wednesday night that disappointed most of the 22,000 fans at Smart Araneta Coliseum and set the stage for Game 7.

“We just weren’t hitting shots on the offensive end,” he said.

Ginebra’s 37 percent shooting, including seven of 33 clips from the three-point area, was in contrast to Bay Area’s solid numbers from the field.

“I give a lot of credit to Myles [Powell]. He got a lot of big shots for him,” Ginebra import Justin Brownlee said.

The Dragons shot 44 percent from the field and hit 17 triples, a barrage that Powell, who, despite scoring 29 conference points, made important shots in waning time.

Powell handled the Nards Pinto tight defense, which was kept on the floor down the stretch despite scoring just three points and missing eight of nine attempts.

That’s why Cone sees a silver lining—and an opportunity—in the loss.

“We only gave up 87 points, averaged like 115 when Powell played,” Cone said after Powell failed to score at least 30 for the first time in the Bay Area’s participation in the midseason tournament.

Cone also admitted that Ginebra had to cram after Bay Area made a surprising move to reactivate Powell despite an earlier declaration by Dragons coach Brian Goorjian that he was done for the series due to a leg injury.

Reschedule

PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial’s move to reschedule Game 7 to Sunday at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, will give the Gin Kings more time to prepare for the explosive 6-foot-2 guard.

“We don’t have time, we have 45 minutes to set a game plan for him in the last training,”

Cone said. “I hope we’ll have some more time, and think what we’ll do. Look at him a little.”

“We haven’t experienced them before, we haven’t played them [eliminations]so this is the first time we’ve had him,” Cone explained.

“But in my mind, we did a good job defensively. [B]ut the same night took a large of three, almost 50 percent. We took 20 percent. It’s the difference in the game.

Cone remains hopeful that Ginebra can produce a result to celebrate before the throngs of supporters in Bulacan.

“We want to win a good game for them, not just for them [will be] there, but people watching at home,” he said.

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