By REYNALD MAGALLON
The upcoming best-of-seven collision against TNT is bound to be something strange and extraordinary for Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
After all, it will be the first time that a familiar face, someone who he admitted was very close to his heart will be on the other side of the court coaching against him. This time, Cone’s challenger is not some of his usual competitors in the Finals but a former player of his who he won so many championships with – interim TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa.
For one, it just showed that the basketball world is so small that those who you won titles with can turn into your rival just to get another one. Or maybe, in Cone’s case, his greatness in the league has been long enough to see his former players-turned-coaches challenge him in a Finals duel.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been, not even Chot, I’ve ever been this close to the opposition coach in my career. Jojo is the closest guy I’ve ever been. He’s been another coach. The history is long and the history was intense. We had so many intense moments together all the way through our respective careers,” said Cone during the pre-finals press conference on Monday, April 3.
Cone and Lastimosa go way back in their dominant days with Alaska where they won nine titles together including a Grand Slam in 1996.
The veteran coach is glad to see his former team captain make it to the Finals in his very first conference as the man at the helm. Cone even praised Lastimosa for turning an explosive offensive team like the Tropang Giga into a more potent defensive squad.
“They are a great offensive team learning to play great defense. I think that’s something Jojo believed in when he was a younger player and throughout his coaching career,” Cone said of Lastimosa who steered TNT to a top-seed finish in the eliminations.
“Defense wins and I think that’s something that is obvious to me that he has brought to the team. They are still very much fine with Chot Reyes’ offensive system but I thought he really brings a lot of defense into it,” he added.
Lastimosa, on the other hand, said he’s just tearing a page from Cone’s playbook when it comes to how he handles his players.
“If there’s something that I picked from Tim, definitely the way he handled his players before. So there’s always a connection with the players and the way his relationship with me even off the court, we still had the relationship, even with the players before,” said the TNT coach.
“So that’s what I want to bring to TNT. About the connection with the players it’s huge on the communication lines and the relationship and that’s what the big difference with Tim, he builds that trust, that relationship. It’s really more important than the system and the defense more than the offense,” he added.
