BARANGAY Ginebra braces for its semifinal match-up against archrival Magnolia Chicken Timplados in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup. It will be the first time that there will be a 'Manila Clasico' semifinals since 2018 when they squared off in the Governors' Cup.
But judging from the way his team defeated NorthPort in Game Two on Saturday, Ginebra coach Tim Cone said they have a lot of work to do in order to overcome Magnolia in the semifinals.
“We didn’t play all that well tonight,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, obviously concerned after the Gins escaped with a 99-93 win over NorthPort on Saturday. “If we play like that against Magnolia, it’s not going to be much of a ‘Clasico.’ We got to really pick it up.”
Cone sent the warning after the game in which Ginebra got off to a slow start as it fell behind, 29-11, in the first quarter, and turned the ball over 10 times, only to pick it up in the second half.
But even with their attack which was also backstopped by LA Tenorio’s four threes, NorthPort was still able to stay in the game with baskets from the likes of, incidentally, former Ginebra players Jeff Chan, Kevin Ferrer, and Arvin Tolentino until the final buzzer.
“We had a meltdown tonight both at the start of the game and when we got ahead, we still had a lot of mental errors,” said Cone. “It’s not really the characteristic of our team. It showed up today. We’ve got to be able to play back-to-back games in the playoffs. (We have to play) a lot better than we did tonight.”
