Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings coach Tim Cone during a PBA Governors’ Cup game. –PBA PICTURES
Simultaneously rivals and friends, Tim Cone and Chot Reyes will likely be able to make few if any moves that the other is unaware of in their coaching battle, which will serve as one of the subplots in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals between Barangay Ginebra and TNT.
“I know him, he knows me,” Cone said after his Gin Kings’ 102-99 victory over the San Miguel Beermen on Sunday in Game 6 of their semifinal series at Smart, a best-of-seven title matchup with Reyes’ Tropang Giga had arranged Araneta Coliseum
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The two will meet for the seventh time on the PBA’s biggest stage and the first time since the 2012 Commissioner’s Cup, when Cone and B-Meg (now Magnolia) defeated Reyes’ TNT in a classic overtime thriller in Game 7.
Cone and Reyes, who also worked together under the management of Gilas Pilipinas in the 2023 Fiba World Cup, will break their 3-3 tie in championship showdowns that many will view as a battle of offensive philosophies.
But Cone, known for his triangle offense that he has modernized over the past few decades, has let everyone see the importance he places on defense over the years.
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Seeing the Tropang Giga reach the final also gives Cone a clear idea of what TNT will be about, starting with Game 1 on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. Cone knows it’s not just Reyes’ offensive dribble-drive system that could cause problems for Ginebra.
TNT Tropang Giga coach Chot Reyes during the PBA Governors’ Cup. –PBA PICTURES
“He did a great job turning the team into a defensive juggernaut,” Cone said.
This was evident in TNT’s numbers campaign, where TNT allowed the fewest points with an average of 89.9 and ranked second in field goal percentage with a 42.01 percentage, just behind Magnolia (40.0).
Now defensive
TNT also forced its opponents into 16.63 turnovers, also second to NorthPort’s 19.2.
Cone said those aspects had a lot to do with the presence of all-round Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
“He molded the team around Rondae’s personality and it became a very good defensive team, so hats off to him,” Cone said. “And that’s something we really have to struggle with when we play against them.”
Hollis-Jefferson’s workhorse will look to counter Justin Brownlee’s penchant for going big in another interesting spinoff to be seen in the title showdown, a rematch of the 2023 Governors’ Cup Finals won by TNT.
In that April 2023 final, Hollis-Jefferson and the Tropang Giga handed Brownlee his first finals loss after going a Michael Jordan-esque 6-0 in the PBA championship series.
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It didn’t take long for Brownlee to exact a measure of revenge on Hollis-Jefferson, as six months later the popular naturalized import led the Cone-coached Gilas Pilipinas team to gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Jordan at Hollis-Jefferson’s expense Final. INQ