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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Cone not too hard on Ginebra after 2-3 start

Cone not too hard on Ginebra after 2-3 start

Published Nov 5, 2025 10:49 am

At A Glance

  • Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone isn't too hard on his team after it wrapped up the tough first five games of their elimination schedules with a 2-3 record.

Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone isn’t too hard on his team after it wrapped up the tough first five games of their elimination schedules with a 2-3 record.

Though admittedly far from being satisfied from what he has seen from his wards so far, Cone was a bit more considerate to the results of their standings especially since they played the powerhouse squads and early contenders in the first half of their assignments.

“We saw that schedule. It has never happened before that I can remember, opening the season against those five big teams,” Cone said of their first five games that saw Ginebra take on fellow giants San Miguel, Magnolia and TNT and early contenders Meralco and NLEX.

Of course, any coach would want a perfect start to the season but the 2-3 record isn’t exactly bad for Ginebra according to Cone especially having to go through that ‘gauntlet’ of games.

“If we were like 3-0 and 4-0, and then had this stretch of five teams, probably nobody would have mentioned anything or thought anything. But having them at the beginning of the season and having to go through that gauntlet early especially since we were like the last team back to practice, I’m not happy with the 2-3 record, but it’s survivable for us,” said Cone.

“I would prefer 3-2 and 4-1 obviously, but that might be too much to ask against all those teams. Hopefully, we get to the playoffs and give them a chance at it,” he added.

Ginebra only won against TNT and NLEX while dropped its games against SMB, Magnolia and Meralco. The Kings though didn’t exactly perform badly and were actually competitive even in their losses.

But Ginebra isn’t out of the woods just yet as it still has the likes of Rain or Shine and Converge in the second half of the schedule though it is still considerably lighter from the first five.

Even so, Cone stressed the Kings cannot let their guards down.

“Obviously, (Converge) is playing extremely well. And I think we’ve seen on any given night, any team can beat anybody. Terrafirma turned around and beat NLEX after NLEX beat San Miguel. Phoenix turned around and beat San Miguel also,” added the multi-titled mentor.

“I think anybody can beat anybody on any given night. And it’s just a matter of preparedness and readiness. And that’s going to be key for us as we go forward,” said Cone.

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