Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone blasted his team for taking Rain or Shine lightly during their matchup Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ginebra paid a big price for being too confident as Rain or Shine pulled off a stunning 104-81 victory to snap a two-game losing start in the PBA Commissioner's Cup.
Their performance didn't sit well with Cone, who spent a minute with reporters describing Ginebra's horrific show.
"I felt we came out and took Rain or Shine for granted," Cone said. "I don't know how to describe it but I can't believe that we would do something like that.
"It really shocks me that we can take a team like Rain or Shine for granted just because they lost a couple of games. I'm just truly disappointed with our effort."
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Among the things that upset Cone was allowing Rey Nambatac to drop a career-high 30 points including seven three-pointers and watching his former import Denzel Bowles to dominate the paint despite the Kings' size advantage.
"We let Nambatac be a Michael Jordan out there. He was everywhere doing what he wanted, hitting whatever shot he wanted and Denzel gave us all kind of problems," Cone lamented.
The PBA's winningest coach was even more frustrated that his players relied too much on import Justin Brownlee, who finished with 30 points.
Japeth Aguilar was the only other Ginebra player in double figures with 17.
"(Rain or Shine) played a box and one (defense) on us. Basically, they're saying that they just got to stop one guy and the four other guys aren't good enough to beat them," he observed.
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"Our four guys gonna have to take the challenge up and prove they can go out and win games and not rely on Justin too much."
Cone hopes the five-day rest will enable Ginebra to get their acts together by the time they return to action on Wednesday against TNT KaTropa. (JT)
