Phoenix may have had a rough start to the conference but that doesn’t make Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone any confident when the two squads cross paths in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 14.

The Kings look to follow up their impressive win over the Bay Area Dragons last time out against the Fuel Masters in the main event at 5:45 p.m. which will also come right after the clash between the Blackwater Bossing and the still winless Terrafirma Dyip at 3 p.m.

Cone, however believes that Phoenix’s 1-4 record doesn’t exactly show how much of a threat that team is especially after Ginebra was beaten black and blue in one of their tuneup games prior to the start of the conference

One player that the legendary coach is keeping his eye on is Fuel Masters point guard Tyler Tio who, according to Cone, torched the Gin Kings from beyond the arc in their practice game.

“Well we got beat up in a practice game by them before the conference started. That was before Jamie had joined the team. But we got beat up by 31 points in a practice game with them. Tyler Tio just destroyed us. He had 34 points and 9 3s or something like that,” shared Cone.

Tio did show flashes of that potential in Phoenix’s breakthrough 111-97 win over NLEX, putting up career numbers in scoring and assist departments with 26 points and seven assists.

“We are totally aware. They came out and beat NLEX last night. Topex has that team playing really well. They lost Matthew Wright and Jason Perkins, but they're still finding ways to win. They're spreading the floor well and shooting the ball well. Tyler Tio is turning into a superstar,” the veteran mentor added.

With Tio, along with Phoenix stars Javee Mocon and RJ Jazul in mind, Cone will be banking on guys like Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio and Stanley Pringle to put the cuffs on Phoenix’s offensive scoring while the new breed of Ginebra in Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray along with Justin Brownlee take the scoring cudgels for the Kings.

Meanwhile in the first offering, Blackwater looks to deal Terrafirma its 21st straight loss to recover from its own sorry 87-83 defeat to NorthPort just last Wednesday. The Bossing wasted an strong start and an eight point cushion early in the final frame, stumbling in the waning minutes courtesy of a back-breaking 16-5 run from the Batang Pier.

Both Troy Rosario and Import Cameron Krutwig had their best scoring output for Blackwater with 19 and 28 points respectively and they hope to replicate that against the Dyip.

Terrafirma, though are surely no pushover as despite another rough start to its campaign, have been showing some signs of fight behind the import Lester Prosper and local crew Alex Cabagnot and Juami Tiongson.