Tim Cone remains wary of fine-hit Bay Area as Ginebra seeks 3-1 lead

Coach Tim Cone doesn’t believe, at least publicly, that the momentum that has fueled Barangay Ginebra heading into the all-important fourth game of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Finals against a sluggish Bay Area team will do. examine there.

“You don’t get momentum from winning one game,” Cone said as the Gin Kings tried to extend the series with a 3-1 advantage heading into 5:45 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Ginebra, buoyed by the support of the crowd, stole Game 3 two nights ago when it erased Bay Area’s seven-point lead in the final four minutes and claimed an 89-82 victory to take control of the best-of-seven.

The shock defeat left the Dragons disappointed and disillusioned, prompting both players to hit out at the officiating via separate social media posts.

“It’s cooked,” Hayden Blankley said in a since-deleted Instagram story as he concluded his remarks for “fair game.”

He and reserve import Myles Powell were eventually fined a combined P175,000 (P100,000 for Powell and P75,000 for Blankley) after meeting with PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Thursday.

But coach Brian Goorjian, who was not called by Marcial despite previous reports saying otherwise, and the Dragons still have a chance to turn it around and once again put the series back to the box with a victory.

A cautious approach

That’s why Cone remains cautious, despite the numbers favoring Ginebra.

Fifty of the 78 teams that won Game 3 after a 1-1 tie in the Finals series have earned championships.

But recent history shows that seven of the 13 teams in the same scenario since the 2014-15 season have lost the title.

“You get momentum from two or three wins [games]but one game is not momentum,” Cone said.

“Actually, now it’s his turn. Actually we have said that. It’s our turn in Game 1, it’s our turn in Game 2, and now it’s our turn to respond in Game 3. Now it’s our turn to respond in Game 4,” added Cone. surrounding Powell and Blankley’s comments.

Andrew Nicholson will remain a Bay Area import despite hurting his left ankle late in Game 3. The Dragons have the option to bring back Powell as the 6-foot-10 ex-National Basketball Association player goes down with an injury.

Improve shooting

But whether Nicholson can muster enough strength to play close to his usual form will not be answered until the ball is tipped.

Cone and Gin Kings, meanwhile, hope to improve their shooting.

Ginebra shot 34-percent from the field in Game 3 and made just seven of 26 attempts from the three-point arc, contributing to Bay Area’s struggles throughout.

It took a timely burst from Justin Brownlee, a pair of three from LA Tenorio and Jamie Malonzo during a decisive turnaround and Scottie Thompson’s all-around effort to capture the victory away from the Bay Area.

“We’ve got to be better than that. We’ve got to do better than that. What we did, at the end of that half hour, and what we did in the last five or six minutes of the game was really alive in our defense,” Cone said.

Read Next

For suggestions, complaints, or questions, please contact us.