Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone lauded the contributions of almost every player he inserted during the crucial Game 4 win that tied the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals series with Meralco at two games apiece.
While Justin Brownlee and Scottie Thompson were the stars of the Gin Kings’ 95-84 victory Wednesday, April 13 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Cone said the result was not a product of just one or two players.
“That’s when we’re at our best, when everybody’s contributing, everybody’s working on the offense and defensive side,” Cone said, adding: “I thought we played our best game of the series.
“It's not always going to be like this, but it was great to see everybody contributing together.”
Christian Standhardinger continued to be one of the silent heroes for Ginebra with his play on both ends, Jeff Chan provided quality minutes while LA Tenorio shook off an inconsistent shooting throughout the series by hitting 17 points.
It was a huge difference compared to Game 3 three nights earlier at the Mall of Asia Arena, when Cone felt his team was far from its usual self and resulted in an 83-74 defeat and a 2-1 lead for Meralco.
“We kinda broke apart in our last game. People were trying to pretty much do it on their own. But today, it was really a collective effort. And it was hard for Meralco to see and focus on any one guy. Although they tried to do it with Justin, a lot of other people contributed.”
The key moment of the game came in the third when Ginebra pulled away from a 41-all tie at the break that frustrated a listless Meralco side that looked like it had a great chance to taking a commanding 3-1 lead.
Cone said that spurt, with Brownlee and Thompson at the forefront, was very crucial.
“We just knew that they beat us up in the last third quarter when we played, so we knew we had to come out with better fire in the third quarter,” Cone said.
Majority of the 17,298 fans — the most by any sporting event since the onset of the pandemic — can feel a sense of comfort with the series back to square one and pivotal fifth game that could decide the series on Easter Sunday coming up.