Cone traces passion to Meralco

Ginebra coach Tim Cone recently disclosed that he was about 12 years old when his eyes were opened to basketball and the love for the game was kindled by, of all teams, Meralco back in the day. It’s ironic that starting in the PBA Governors Cup finals tonight, Cone will go up against the franchise that inspired his passion for hoops.

“My friend Stanley Fields’ big sister was the girlfriend of Fort Acuna who was a rookie with Meralco at the time,” recounted Cone. “So Stanley and I used to hang out at Meralco’s practices. We were these two American kids running around and luckily, they didn’t shoo us out. I remember Jimmy Mariano was nice to us. The team had a lot of stars we looked up to, Sonny Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz, Big Boy Reynoso.”

Cone said he broke into the PBA in 1989 when Norman Black piloted San Miguel Beer to the Grand Slam. “That was the year I started coaching in the PBA with Alaska,” said Cone. “I’ve always looked up to coach Norman.” Eventually, Cone booked his own Grand Slam, not once but twice. Cone and Black are both 62 with their birthdays only a month apart. 

So far, Cone has bagged 21 championships, three with Ginebra. Two of his titles with Ginebra came at Meralco’s expense in the 2016 and 2017 Governors Cup. His most recent triumph was in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup. All of Cone’s Ginebra titles were anchored on Justin Brownlee as import. Black has pocketed 11 crowns, nine with San Miguel. Meralco has never won a title since joining the PBA in 2010-11 and Black’s last championship was with TNT in the 2012-13 Philippine Cup. 

Ginebra’s current lineup lists nine players who saw action against Meralco in either the 2016 or 2017 finals or both while the Bolts’ roster counts seven. The players who suited up in both the 2016 and 2017 finals were L. A. Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter, Mark Caguioa, Aljon Mariano, Joe De Vance and Justin Brownlee for Ginebra and Allen Durham, Cliff Hodge, Baser Amer, Chris Newsome, Anjo Caram, Bryan Faundo and Reynel Hugnatan for Meralco. Art de la Cruz was in Ginebra’s injured list during the 2017 finals and Raymond Aguilar played only Game 1 in the title series that year.

Newcomers in the Ginebra-Meralco finals are Stanley Pringle, Jeff Chan, Prince Caperal, Tey Teodoro and Julian Sargent for Ginebra and Nards Pinto, Bong Quinto, Raymond Almazan, Trevis Jackson, Toto Jose, Jason Ballesteros and Allein Maliksi for Meralco. Ginebra’s Jared Dillinger played for Meralco in the 2017 finals while Meralco’s Nico Salva saw action for Ginebra in 2016 and Meralco’s Jammer Jamito was in Ginebra’s cast in 2017 but didn’t play in the title series. Almazan was on Rain or Shine’s title squad in 2016 and Maliksi, on four San Mig Coffee title teams.     

Meralco’s representative in the PBA Board of Governors, SBP president and Smart Communications president Al Panlilio said the Bolts are the underdogs in the finals. “This is our 27th conference in the PBA and we still haven’t won a championship,” he said. “We lost to Ginebra twice in the finals so until we beat them in the finals, we’re the underdogs.”

Ginebra’s representative in the PBA Board of Governors and San Miguel Corp. sports director Alfrancis Chua said his friendship with “tokayo” Panlilio goes beyond basketball. They’re fierce competitors in the PBA but close allies in promoting Philippine basketball, particularly on the Gilas level. No matter which team wins in the finals, both Als will remain strongly committed to their common goal of pushing basketball in the country forward.

Game 1 of this conference’s finals begins at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight. It was initially scheduled for tomorrow but PBA commissioner Willie Marcial advanced the opening by a day to give both teams an extra 24 hours to prepare for Game 2 in Lucena on Friday.  “Our option was to advance the finals by a day or to move the schedule downwards,” he said. “We couldn’t move it downwards because we couldn’t be sure of a venue if it went to a Game 7 on Jan. 24.  Moving it downwards would’ve also meant adjusting every game the rest of the finals.”

Game 2 will be in Lucena on Friday and Game 3 will be back at Araneta on Sunday. It was also a one-day interval when Ginebra and Meralco played Game 1 in Lucena then Game 2 at Araneta in the 2017 finals. “Actually, I wish we could play more games outside of Metro Manila,” Marcial said. “It’s not a matter of economics. It’s a matter of reaching out to the fans. If the finals will go to a Game 7, the biggest winner will be the fans.”

Game 4 is set at Araneta on Jan. 15. If necessary, Game 5 will be at the MOA Arena on Jan. 17, Game 6 at the Philippine Arena on Jan. 19 and Game 7, also at the Philippine Arena on Jan. 22. In the 2017 finals, Games 5, 6 and 7 were held at the Philippine Arena with escalating attendance records. A crowd of 36,445 witnessed Game 5 then 53,642 came for Game 6 and 54,086 for Game 7.