GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
ADVERTISEMENT
Filtered By: Sports
Sports
PBA: On the cusp of a grand slam, San Mig Coffee’s Cone knows the road ahead will be tough
+
Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google.
Three in a row - James Yap, Mark Barroca and PJ Simon have won three straight conference titles. Is a fourth and a grand slam in the making? KC Cruz
The San Mig Coffee Mixers beat out the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters to win the 2014 PBA Commissioner's Cup, putting coach Tim Cone's squad on the cusp of a grand slam season, 25 years after Norman Black's San Miguel Beermen achieved the feat.
Since the clinching game four was played at the PhilSports Arena, it was inevitable to Cone that thoughts on tonight's championship circled back to 1989, which also proved to be a momentous year for the San Mig Coffee coach.
Cone recalled a conversation he had with Black, who was then an import, after he lost his debut game at the hands of the Turbochargers in the same venue.
"He told me, 'You know Tim if your team continues to play like that, they'll win a lot of games,'" recounted Cone. "'You just gotta fight through the losing right now.'
"I've actually stolen that now and said it to all the young coaches I play with all the time," said Cone, “But it's stuck with me and it's been very impactful."
The Mixers mentor called Black's return to the PBA "a godsend," mentioning his 11 PBA titles and five-peat in the UAAP. "You have to respect them. They play hard, they play clean," said Cone. "They went 13-0 in the regular season, and I'm sad we had to [ruin] what they've accomplished."
Cone now has the chance to become the only PBA coach to achieve a pair of grand slams, but said he hasn’t given any thought yet to that lofty achievement.
"We're not gonna talk about it, because there's so much pressure in winning a grand slam," he said. "But we'll have Marqus [Blakely] coming back and we all know how good he is. And we'll have Allein Maliksi coming back this conference."
Despite the fatigue and the pressure, Cone promised that San Mig Coffee will come back to try and give their all.
"It's unfathomable to me that we have another game in five days. Talk 'N Text also plays on May 21st. We'll try to lean on the energy of Marqus and Allein and we'll see," he said. "We don't want to use this conference as an excuse for the next conference. We'll see what we can do." - AMD, GMA News
