Frustration mounts as Ginebra’s title drought continues

Game Friday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

7 p.m. – Alaska vs Tropang TNT

MANILA, Philippines – The long dry spell continues for Barangay Ginebra over seven years now since winning the team’s last championship in the 2007-08 PBA Fiesta Conference under coach Jong Uichico.

A return to glory land has been elusive even with all the team’s coaching changes from Siot Tanquingcen to Alfrancis Chua, Ato Agustin, Jeff Cariaso, Juno Sauler, Frankie Lim and Tim Cone.

Under Cone with all the championships under his belt, the Gin Kings have failed to make it past the quarterfinals in two conferences.

Disappointment of the Ginebra throngs mounted as the Gin Kings were swept aside by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three semifinals showdown.

Ginebra went down in the face of Rain or Shine’s mighty fightback from 19 points down in Game One and hardly got into the battle in Game Two.

“I've had some real battles with coach Yeng (Guiao) and ROS over the years. Today (yesterday), he certainly won this round and got the better of us,” said Cone.

“They were great and we were not. It was the wrong time, obviously, to have an off night. But that's the next level for us, learning how to collectively play big games and big moments,” Cone also said.

The two-time grand slam-winning coach said he’s sorry for the Ginebra fans.

 “The game was an incredibly painful lesson for all of us, me especially. I hate disappointing the Ginebra fans. We didn't live up the NSD (never-say-die) legacy,” he said.

Cone, however, is hopeful Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio, Mark Caguioa, Mark Caguioa and their teammates would eventually develop a winning bond.

“I still feel in the near future that we'll make (the Ginebra fans) proud, but until then, we need keep proving that we deserve the Ginebra fans’ support,” Cone said.

The original plan is for import Othyus Jeffers to be with the team all the way to the season-ending Governors Cup.

But there’s no word yet whether the team is sticking with him after their sorry exit in the Commissioner’s Cup.

Also in the balance now is Slaughter’s bid for the Best Player of the Conference award.

The 7-foot-1 behemoth is bound to top the stats race but the question is whether he gets the votes in the balloting.

No player who missed the semifinals has ever won the coveted individual award.