Tim Cone pressured but also excited with Ginebra fans

Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone (Photo from PBA images)

MANILA – Now playing on Barangay Ginebra’s side, coach Tim Cone shared that he was beyond excited to impress the fans.

“I know that when we play Ginebra, we always felt that because of the great attention, this is where you make your name, this is where you want to play well. People will remember that because they will be watching. There’s so much passion and desire on the floor. The time you want to shine is when you have the most attention, and that’s always a great motivating tool for the other teams,” Cone said.

“Our whole gameplan against Ginebra was to keep the crowd out of the game. Don’t let them get crazy. I had that with Purefoods, and it was exciting and a lot of fun. The crowd really helped you coach through momentum because the crowd gives you momentum,” he added, remembering playing against the Gin Kings.

PBA’s ‘winningest’ coach admitted being pressured but at the same time motivated.

“The one thing you don’t wanna do is to let down the fans. Hopefully, we’ll handle it well and we can delight them at some point by getting into the Finals and winning a championship,” he said.

“And now to do that with Ginebra? I’m really excited about that, on how can we let the crowd help us, create momentum for us. Coaching Ginebra brings a different pressure than other teams because of the social media and the close contact with the fans, the microscope you’re always under, the pressure the players are always under. They’re just a great motivating tool,” he added.

Cone also wanted to adopt former coach Sonny Jaworski’s style.

“I think one of the reasons Sonny Jaworski was successful in coaching Ginebra that was that he took the pressure all by himself and kept the pressure away from the players. Because he’s such a polarizing figure, he could absorb all the pressures and his players could just go out and play. It’s a difficult thing to find that balance and not get overwhelmed,” he said.

“One of the great things of coming to Purefoods was following the legend of Baby Dalupan because I can say I coached on Baby Dalupan’s team. Now I’m going to Ginebra and I’m able to follow the legend of Sonny Jaworski. It’s such a motivating tool to think that I’m following the legend of Sonny,” he added.