By JONAS TERRADO
Tim Cone felt a little embarrassed when he was reminded of his status as the winningest coach in PBA history in front of the biggest crowd ever seen in a finals game.
As the first-ever coach to win 20 PBA championships, Cone should be more content of what he had accomplished at this stage of his career. But even after leading Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to two straight Governors’ Cup titles, he believes that more celebrations are on the way.
“I always said that we didn’t come to Ginebra to win just one championship, we always wanna win many championships, and so this is our job,” Cone said after Ginebra’s 101-95 win over Meralco in Game 7 Friday night at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
“We’re not gonna stop here, we got more to come,” added Cone, triggering deafening cheers from most of the record 54,086 fans who witnessed Ginebra’s 10th championship in team history.
From a team that being labeled as “Kangkong” – a usual jab for its past shortcomings, Ginebra is prepared to add more hardware and give its legion of fans more reasons to smile.
“We’re going to win more titles. That’s our mindset,” said Joe Devance, whose eight titles were all won with Cone going into their days with Alaska and San Mig Super Coffee.
Devance, whose latest title run came despite having to deal with a foot injury, expects a more-difficult road in its bid to reign supreme yet again.
“There’s tough teams out there. It’s not going to be easy. We won the same conference last year, and then nothing, so we got to come out after we get on this break and prepare, train hard, and get after it,” added Devance, mentioning Ginebra’s finals defeat to San Miguel in the Philippine Cup and a semifinal loss to TNT KaTropa in the Commissioner’s Cup earlier this season.
Devance felt a sense of pride of having to play through pain, so did Cignal-PBA Press Corps Finals Most Valuable Player LA Tenorio, who saved his best for last with 26 points despite nursing an injured shooting elbow that has bothered him for so long.
“I think it’s a good time na rin kasi matagal pa yung next season,” said Tenorio, who added that his injury began since his days with Alaska.
Tenorio played as if he wasn’t hurt, hitting five triples and made it tough for Meralco to come from 20 points down by scoring 10 points in the third quarter. His Game 7 performance could have been the best of his 11-year pro career.
“As a veteran din di ba, I take responsibility kung ano mangyayari sa game. Luckily, nagsho-shoot tira ko,” he said.
Tenorio went through with his long-overdue operation yesterday, hoping to be as good as new when he and the rest of the Kings resume their drive to fulfill Tim Cone’s mission.
