Up next: Gilas
ANTIPOLO—Scottie Thompson and coach Tim Cone immediately shifted their focus after Barangay Ginebra survived San Miguel Beer in the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.
And it isn’t Rondae-Hollis Jefferson and TNT just yet.
Thompson, Cone and the Gin Kings turned back the Beermen, 110-94, on Tuesday at Ynares Center in the deciding Game 5 of their dramatic series to advance to the semifinals against the Tropang 5G.
That duel will have to wait.
Cone will coach GIias Pilipinas—and Thompson will play a pivotal role for the national squad—as it tries to secure two important victories in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
“We’ll just focus on what’s in front of us,” Thompson said after a massive performance that saw him produce 29 points, eight rebounds, two assists and five steals.
The national squad battles Syria and Iran later this month in away fixtures scheduled in Seremban, Malaysia.
Boatwright debut
Thompson will join a handful of PBA stars, some Filipino standouts playing in Japan and Korea and newly-minted naturalized player Bennie Boatwright in the Fiba window.
Cone said Gilas will be in Malaysia by Nov. 21, six days before facing Syria. The Iran match is on Nov. 29.
After that, Cone and Thompson are going to have a quick turnaround as Ginebra looks to hurdle TNT, an opponent it had met three times in the Finals over the last two seasons.
“I’m not gonna focus on that too much because I have Gilas duties first,” Cone said. “Unlike all the other teams [that are] gonna be having an opportunity to rest and prepare, we’re not gonna have that opportunity. I’ll be gone, assistant coach Richard del Rosario’s gonna be gone and some of our staff will be gone.”
But Cone is glad to have that predicament, especially since things look lost for Ginebra after falling behind by 13 in the third period.
It was there that the Gin Kings went on a 29-2 run, a turnaround that left the Beermen stunned.
With the win, Ginebra booked its 10th straight semifinal appearance and foiled San Miguel Beer’s plan to become just the third team to erase a 0-2 deficit and win a race-to-three affair.
“We flipped the script,” said Cone, whose wards jumped to a 2-0 lead in the series only to watch the Beermen claw their way back.
The semifinals will be on Dec. 4. The other half of the semifinal bracket will have NLEX battling Converge.
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