He said this after the Gin Kings scored an impressive win over Bay Area in the series opener.
Ginebra maybe got a wee bit lucky.
That’s what Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone said in the aftermath of an emphatic 96-81 win over the Bay Area Dragons in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals opener on Sunday.
Cone was referring specifically to Hayden Blankley going 0-for-9 from the three-point area, saying the Gin Kings were fortunate the latter missed a slew of open shots from that range.
“It seems like we got a little lucky . . . He makes 30% of those and it’s a different basketball game,” Cone said.
“And he got good looks. He just wasn’t knocking them down. So those are things were going to look at: why is he getting open? Why is he getting many looks? Because you know our whole thing is he shouldn’t be shooting those threes and he’s getting them. Fortunately for us he didn’t make them today.”
What he emphasized, though, was Christian Standhardinger’s defense on Bay Area import Andrew Nicholson. The former NBA player still came up with 27 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, but hardly made an dent in the face of a relentless Ginebra attack.
“I thought the best thing we did is we limited Nicholson’s 3s. Christian did a tremendous job guarding him. I don’t know if he can keep that up for seven games but were certainly gonna try to keep that up,” he said.
The numbers, though, point to Ginebra’s defense all conference long as key to the victory. After all, Ginebra has limited its opponents to less than 92 points in their 14 wins this conference. In their elimination round meeting, the Gin Kings dealt the Dragons a 111-93 loss.
According to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon, Bay Area’s 40 points after the first two quarters are “their lowest in the first half this conference.” Their previous low was 41 in an 89-92 loss to the Meralco Bolts.
Bay Area has yet to find the answer to Ginebra’s formidable defense anchored on Standhardinger and do-it-all guard and reigning MVP Scottie Thompson.
And they need to do so as soonest time possible or this series is practically over.