No bad trip for Cone

It’s not as if San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone isn’t used to marching up on stage to receive an award. He’s stepped on the dais to accept trophies and medals countless times. After all, Cone has won 15 PBA titles, was twice named PBA Coach of the Year, took the Philippine team to the Jones Cup title and the bronze medal at the Asian Games both in 1998 and coached six PBA All-Star Games.

But something happened to Cone on the way to the platform at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night in the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel last Saturday night. He walked up the steps leading to the stage and on the last rung, unexpectedly lost his footing.  Cone stumbled but luckily, didn’t fall. He blushed with embarrassment but smiled his usual smile to receive his citation for tying his all-time idol Baby Dalupan’s record of 15 PBA titles. They’re the winningest coaches in PBA history.

Was it a bad trip? No way. Cone would take a tumble any day to wash out bad luck before a big game. And sure enough, the day after, Lady Luck was on Cone’s side as San Mig Coffee broke out of a close tiff to eliminate defending champion Talk ‘N’ Text, 90-82, at the Cuneta Astrodome. Only a point separated both teams at the start of the fourth period then the Mixers finished off the Tropa as Mark Barroca and Marc Pingris combined for 15 points in the payoff quarter.

Barging into the semifinals was far from Cone’s mind at the start of the conference. With a 0-3 start, all Cone prayed for was to survive the eliminations. Things got worse before they got better for San Mig Coffee. The Mixers moved to 1-5 and looked lost. It didn’t help that P. J. Simon sat out the first three games, Joe DeVance the first four and James Yap two of the first five. The Mixers looked spent from going the seven-game distance to win the previous conference, the Governors Cup, over Petron. Game 7 was played last Oct. 25 and San Mig Coffee was back on the floor to start the Philippine Cup on Nov. 17. There was also an issue of chemistry as Cone brought in four rookies during the three-week offseason – Ian Sangalang, Isaac Holstein, Justin Melton and J. R. Cawaling in that order.

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Slowly, Cone got his troops back working together but not after throwing a tantrum in the middle of a blowout loss to Rain Or Shine last Dec. 29. Cone was so disgusted with the Mixers’ lacklustre play that he stopped coaching in the second half, leaving assistant Jeff Cariaso to take over. The Painters crushed the Mixers, 101-77. Cone’s expression of disappointment was a timely wake-up call as the eliminations were close to ending and San Mig Coffee’s fate still hung in the balance with an iffy 3-7 record.

In a remarkable turnaround, the Mixers swept their last four assignments in the eliminations, beating Ginebra, 83-79, Air 21, 67-60, Petron, 112-93 and Talk ‘N’ Text, 100-87. That arranged a best-of-three duel with the Texters for the right to advance to the semis. To prepare for battle, the Tropa brought in KG Canaleta and welcomed back Kelly Williams, Harvey Carey, Ryan Reyes and Noy Baclao who all sat out the last two games of the eliminations.

Game 1 showed that the Mixers were back on track for a championship push, stretching their win string to five games at the Texters’ expense, 90-83. The key was San Mig’s defense which held the Tropa to a field goal percentage of only .359. The Mixers clearly outworked the Texters with 10 more rebounds, 11 more second chance points and five more offensive rebounds. They were also more efficient with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 13:11 compared to the Tropa’s 15:15.

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The Tropa returned the favor in Game 2, 82-77, as coach Norman Black’s charges stood their ground defensively. Simon and Yap were a combined 0-of-7 from beyond the arc and Pingris was quiet with 1-of-5 field goals. Only one Texter logged more than 33 minutes compared to four from San Mig, meaning Black got higher productivity from his battalion with a more spread-out distribution of playing time.

In Game 3 the day after Cone’s stumble at the Manila Hotel, the Mixers were back in the trenches, doing what they do best as the league’s No. 1 defensive team. San Mig held the Tropa to .346 shooting and won despite the Texters taking more field goal attempts, 81-71. Cone also unveiled a surprise package in Melton as his version of a “wildcard” to negate Canaleta’s recruitment. There was no meltdown in Melton’s performance as he delivered 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in 19 solid minutes.

Tonight, San Mig Coffee faces Ginebra to start their best-of-seven semifinal series. The Mixers have now won six of their last seven while Ginebra, nine of their last 12. In the eliminations, they split their two-game series with Ginebra drawing first blood, 86-69 and the Mixers claiming revenge, 83-79, in the rematch. Cone is looking to surpass Dalupan’s mark and become the winningest PBA coach ever with a 16th championship. He’s eight wins away from making it happen. That seems like an eternity of basketball. Cone will need a take a tumble or two more to keep his streak of good luck going.