Ginebra's Christmas comeback against Star amazing feat for Cone

Sol Mercado led Ginebra's epic comeback against Star on Christmas. PBA

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY--Despite Ginebra completing a comeback from 18 points down to eliminate Star, Coach Tim Cone believes the deficit his team had to overcome was a testament of Coach Jason Webb's mentoring prowess in their Christmas Day game.

"I was totally out-coached the whole game," Cone said after the Gin Kings' 92-89 overtime thriller victory that brought them to the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

[Related Story: Tenorio hits game-winner as Ginebra rallies to down Star in OT]

He even evaluated his performance on Friday night as "lousy", but he praised his players for once again showing the never-say-die attitude especially in a playoff game like this.

Cone further told the press, "It's funny when you feel like such a lousy coach and then your team at the end makes you look good.... Our guys made shots down the stretch, and that was the difference. We made one more shot than they did."

He then elaborated, "It wasn't a well-played game. We didn't get to do the things we wanted to do. We stuck around with our defense, but they extended the lead. They got on a run. Then, I don't know. I just looked up at the scoreboard and said, 'Hey! We're down two points.' I didn't even realize. I thought we're still down seven or eight. And then we got the steal on the out of bounds and the layup, and then we had it. These guys really played with a big heart. They were not quitting."

He also expressed rave on the Ginebra fans, who still made the louder noise at the Mall of Asia Arena despite some of them already leaving the venue when they thought Star's huge lead was already too tough to overhaul.

"It's really amazing that they're still chanting out there," the veteran coach continued while hearing the cheers of the remnants of the 21,808 people who packed the said arena but stayed until the final horn.

Cone, who formerly coached Star and Alaska before that, even said that for the first time as the Ginebra mentor, he experienced the feels of being cheered upon by a huge crowd in a playoff match.

He described the atmosphere, "I've never been around in this before. It was all new to me."

He then evaluated the game, "[It was] one of the most important games I've ever been involved in. This was one of the most amazing ones."

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno