Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone pinned the blame on his team’s poor shooting and costly turnovers that led to their Game 5 collapse, putting the Kings on the brink of elimination in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinals.

The multi-titled mentor pointed out that his team struggled to execute in the waning minutes, wasting what he believed was a solid overall performance by the Kings.

“We made a couple of—three or four even—crucial errors at the wrong time that led them to stretch it out down the stretch. It wasted a tough, good performance by us,” said Cone, whose Kings squandered a double-digit lead and allowed the Beermen to pull away in the second half.

Ginebra committed 16 turnovers, including a pair in the final two minutes that led to key baskets by CJ Perez. San Miguel ultimately scored 24 points off Ginebra’s miscues.

It also didn’t help that the Kings struggled defensively, with defensive anchor Japeth Aguilar battling foul trouble throughout the game.

“That really hurt us in trying to defend June Mar. We kept him out there and stayed away from his sixth foul, but it was hard on our defense. We couldn’t play aggressively; we couldn’t defend the way we wanted,” Cone added.

As tough as the loss was for Ginebra, Cone said the bigger concern remains the team’s inability to find its offensive rhythm. That struggle was evident in Game 5, where the Kings shot just 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from beyond the arc—compared to San Miguel’s 50 percent and 37.5 percent shooting clips.

“Still haven’t had a good shooting night this whole series. We have not shot the ball well,” Cone admitted.

“Hoping that’s gonna come around at some point. Maybe on Sunday—we’ll see,” he added, referring to the must-win Game 6 where Ginebra will try to force a deciding Game 7.

“The old cliché—it takes four to win. It doesn’t take three. It’s not a five-game series; it’s a seven-game series,” Cone said.