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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Cone bracing for semis clash vs SMB

Cone bracing for semis clash vs SMB

Published Jan 1, 2026 02:05 pm

At A Glance

  • Barangay Ginebra is quickly moving on from the celebrations of the new year as it looks forward to facing San Miguel once again in the best-of-seven semifinals in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Barangay Ginebra is quickly moving on from the celebrations of the new year as it looks forward to facing San Miguel once again in the best-of-seven semifinals in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Kings head coach Tim Cone said it’s been a working holiday for his team especially with the looming rematch against the Beermen which defeated them last season.
“Back to work for us. It’s going to be a working holiday for us,” said Cone after Ginebra survived the young but gritty Converge in the quarterfinals.
“Like I said, we have a big opponent coming up. We'll maybe take a day, at most two,” he added.
The Kings surely need their A-game in the semis especially with the Beermen coming in on a hot streak with 10 straight victories.
Though certainly familiar with the Beermen, Cone will have to form a plan to limit June Mar Fajardo who has been on a tear for SMB so far in the conference.
“We know them, they know us. We took them to seven games last time. We'll see if we can flip the script,” said Cone.
“That's what we're going to try to do is flip the script this time around. But we know they're tough,” added the veteran mentor.
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