MANILA, Philippines — The specter of playing in a Game 7 in San Jose, Batangas is still a strong possibility for Barangay Ginebra despite the team's gutsy victory on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Coach Tim Cone is not discounting that fact though the Gin Kings can finish off the Meralco Bolts come Wednesday when both squads meet against for Game 6 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"Those are things that I always tell the team that's just totally out of our control. And
if we have to go to Game 7, we will try to do the best we can and make it as smooth as we can, in getting there, and be prepared and understanding the gym," Cone told media men shortly after Ginebra scraped past Meralco, 89-84 after bouncing back from a 15-point deficit, en route to grabbing a 3-2 series lead.
Understandably, Cone said there are still a lot of concerns they will have to address on Monday and Tuesday as the Gin Kings prepare for Game 6.
The American mentor is well aware that Meralco is a completely tougher adversary under active consultant Nenad Vucinic, whom Cone credited in the ongoing series.
It's no wonder that Cone knows there's no guarantee of winning Game 6, and that playing in a do-or-die match in Batangas will always be a possibility.
"Obviously we didn't play a pretty game (on Sunday). Even Christian (Standhardinger) would say we still have lot of things to better on," said Cone.
"They (Bolts) changed up a lot of things tonight. They changed up the pick and roll coverage and they made some wholesale adjustments," he added.
Yet, Cone is confident that should the series moves to a Game 7, the Ginebra management will be there to provide what the team needs in the hope of winning the series.
"We're gonna have full support from management in terms of everything we need. But it's
certainly something that we try not to think about but just try to think of one game ahead of us," he said.
"I'm sorry for the Batangas fans if we don't see them. I'll be very, very happy
but if we do, I hope we put a show for them."
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