Jan 19, 2019

Cone agrees Ginebra can matchup with SMB better than any other team

All are saying San Miguel Beer is still the team to beat. And if there's any team that can very well match up with the Beermen, it's Barangay Ginebra.

The Beermen and the Kings, who could set up another title duel if they live up to expectation, size each other up as they face off in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone himself agrees with the prognosis that they could put up probably the toughest challenge on San Miguel's five-peat quest in this tourney.

"We can match up with them better than any other team. We have similar size, similar quickness in the backcourt. And some other things they can do against other teams, they can't do against us," said Cone.

And a healthy lineup gives Cone the confidence to compete with the Beermen that they beat for the crown in the Commissioner's Cup last season.

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"That's the key, to be healthy. Generally, we're healthy. Greg (Slaughter) is healthy, Japeth (Aguilar) is healthy and LA (Tenorio) who's always healthy, is healthy. As long as those guys are healthy, we have enough to be good," said Cone.

The Ginebra coach feels they've grown up and matured but his concern is that San Miguel has become tougher.

"We're intact and we're comfortable with each other. We know what to do and achieve, but they've got stronger with the addition of Christian Standhardinger and Terrence Romeo.

They're gonna be tough," said Cone.

The Kings and the Beermen had contrasting results in their initial showings in the tourney.

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Ginebra imposed itself against an injury-hit TNT KaTropa team and hacked out a 90-79 victory in the season opener at the Philippine Arena.

San Miguel, meanwhile, ran against a well-motivated and well-prepared Columbian Dyip side, and suffered a shocking 118-124 loss Friday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

But that could serve as a wake-up call for the Beermen.

CJ Perez matched Rob Bolick's 26-point pro debut with NorthPort on Wednesday while Jackson Corpuz hurt San Miguel badly on his steady perimeter shooter, coming through with 21 points on top of 11 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists as the Dyip already equaled the lone win they posted in the 2018 Philippine Cup.

Reden Celda, Rashawn McCarthy, JR Reyes, Russell Escoto, Eric Camson and Jerramy King had their no-nonsense performances as Columbian shocked the highly favored Beermen.

In trying to draw out June Mar Fajardo on defense, the Columbian frontliners took shots from afar, with Reyes, Escoto and Camson ending up with a combined seven three-point field-goal conversions.

Then there were Perez, Celda, McCarthy and King holding their own against SMB's guard and wing rotations as the Dyip negated Arwind Santos' 34-point explosion.

With a constant double-teaming defense on Fajardo, the Dyip held the Cebuano behemoth to 16 markers. Worse, Fajardo committed seven turnovers.

Terrence Romeo put in seven points, four assists and two rebounds in his first game as a Beerman. He was limited to 12 minutes of action, though, as he suffered an ankle sprain in the third period. (SB)