Cone sees animosity intensifying between Beermen, Gin Kings

MANILA, Philippines — We’re just two games into the PBA’s Commissioner’s Cup Finals, but Tim Cone is already expecting the intensity to hit fever pitch come Game Three on Wednesday night.

After the chippy Sunday night that saw Arwind Santos and Chris Ross thrown out of the game, the Barangay Ginebra chieftain said he is expecting for the series to “get chippier.”

“Honestly, we're not friendly with them at all, and you know, we see them as the mountain to be conquered, and they see us as the threat to their throne, the main threat to their throne,” he said.

“There's no love lost between the two teams. We go about it differently, but hopefully we achieve the same high level of results. Right now, their results are higher than ours. But I think you'll continue to see it be chippy. I don't think it's going to be lay down for the other team. I expect it to get chippier,” he continued.

Santos was slapped with an flagrant foul 2 after colliding with Scottie Thompson. Ross, on the other hand, figured in a verbal joust with Cone’s old reliable in Joe Devance. The pair swapped shoves and traded barbs that eventually led to the Beerman’s technical — his second that moment.

“Nothing, we won. That's it. The technicals, I don't think I deserve them but the refs called them so I'll live with it, as long as my team wins,” Ross said of the squabble.

Devance, for his part, was quick to play it all down saying, “(Chris) was yelling at me, so I yelled at him back. But I'm not sure what he was mad about. But you know, it's just part of the game, it's alright. Nothing serious.”

Santos, for his part, was eager to explain his side in detail:

.@arwindsotnas comments on the foul against @barangayginebra’s Scottie Thompson. | @sonrd #PBAFinals #PBA2018 pic.twitter.com/cJlc4oGqBu

— Philstar Sports Hub (@StarSportsHub) July 29, 2018

“I think you're gonna see that throughout the whole series,” Cone said of the game’s roughness.  “It's funny, we're sister teams but we're not friendly.”

Game Three of the best-of-seven saga between the crowd favorite and “crown” favorite is on Wednesday night, again at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.