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BYADRIAN STEWART CO
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Friday, March 3, 2017
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MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings is putting up an “A-plus game” to level the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals against San Miguel Beermen in Game 4 tonight at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Kings head coach Tim Cone said he is happy with the effort of his players in Game 3, where five players scored in double figures, but it was not enough after they suffered a 99-88 loss to the Beermen.
“Our A-minus game isn’t enough to beat San Miguel. We gotta play better than A-minus against them,” said Cone. “We didn’t play the best down the stretch. We didn’t execute on both ends.”
The 19-time PBA champion coach added: “(The Kings) now know better that we cannot win against San Miguel on our A-minus game alone. We just [need to] be better down the stretch next time.”
The Kings led by as much as 12 points late in the second period behind the early exploits of LA Tenorio and Mark Caguioa, but the Beermen responded well in the second half to turn things around.
Meanwhile Beermen head coach Leo Austria said he will prepare his players well for Game 4. He suspects the Kings will find ways to beat them and level the race-to-four series.
“It’s not safe (2-1 lead) dahil alam naman natin na si Coach Tim Cone, he’s really a great coach, very smart and he can find ways,” said Austria. “A lot of things can happen in the next game.”
He added: “The (Kings) cannot afford to give us another win. At 3-1, you’re in a deep hole na, especially against us. We experienced that before, so we don’t want that to happen to us.”
This Philippine Cup finals marks the first time the Kings and the Beermen faced off in a championship series since the 2009 PBA Fiesta Cup, where the Beermen defeated the Kings in a seven-game series./PN
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