Cone commends Ginebra for "settling in" despite Meralco's Q3 fury

PBA

By Ivan Saldajeno

LUCENA--With the team struggling offensively, many may have not seen Meralco still putting up a fight in Game 1 of the PBA Governors' Cup Finals against Ginebra at the Quezon Convention Center on Friday night.

Only scoring 35 points in the first half, the Bolts dropped 36, more than double their first half output, in the third quarter and were within four points, 71-75, with 4.9 seconds to go in the period.

The Barangay, however, saw the run coming.

"We expected it," said Ginebra coach Tim Cone after the game. "We talked about it at halftime. We thought that they would start putting more pressure on us and up the tempo of the game a little bit more."

After the third quarter blitz by the Bolts, the Barangay responded with an early fourth quarter barrage, opening the final canto on a 19-4 run that helped them pull away for good and take the Game 1 win.

[Related Story: Ginebra romps Meralco in Finals opener]

"When you go on things like that, you don't go on a panic mode. It's unexpected when you have an initial panic. Our guys did a good job on settling and getting the ball inside. Sol [Mercado] and Justin [Brownlee] hit a couple of shots, and all of a sudden, the lead stretched," Cone said.

For Cone, however, the game is still defined by a single trend.

"It's really about who's making shots. We were making shots. They weren't," he summarized the match.

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