Cone, Reyes battle it out again in the Finals after 12 years
After 12 years, Coaches Tim Cone and Chot Reyes will battle it out once again in a PBA Finals.
Splitting their past six encounters at 3-3, the pals Cone and Reyes will grind it out in the championship match-up of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup.
The two mentors started their journey in Alaska when Coach Tim was still the head coach of the squad while Coach Chot was his chief deputy.
And now that they are together in the Finals once more, though in the opposing sides, Cone is happy to battle it out again with his friend.
"We are really just happy that we are back in and going to pit against my good friend coach Chot again," said the Barangay Ginebra mentor.
"There's always been that rivalry between Ginebra and TNT. Looking forward to mixing it up with my buddy," he added.
In their head-to-head match-up, Reyes won his first title against Cone during the 1994 Commissioner’s Cup when he guided Purefoods to a victory over Alaska.
Meanwhile, Tim Cone got back at his former deputy during the 1996 All-Filipino Cup. It was also the year where Alaska won grand slam titles.
The next two of their battles went to Cone as he won the 2003 Invitational Cup and the 2007 Fiesta Cup for Alaska, while Reyes won their last two competitions when he captured the 2002 All-Filipino Cup with Coca-Cola and the 2008-09 Philippine Cup with Talk ‘N Text.
Their next face-off will be the first time that Cone will take on Reyes in the Finals as the Gin Kings coach. The TNT-Ginebra tussle in the 2023 Governors’ Cup finals was between Cone and his former Alaska ward Jojo Lastimosa, who led the Tropang Texters to the promised land. Reyes at that time was focused on his role as Gilas Pilipinas head coach.
In the recently concluded semifinals, Cone and the Kings defeated the San Miguel Beermen in a gritty series, 4-2, while Reyes and the Tropang Giga overcame the young and persevering Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of their own series, 4-1.
The 66-year-old Cone, is the winningest coach in the league’s history with 25 titles tucked under his belt and still looking for more, while the 61-year-old Reyes has nine championships.
They were both multiple recipients of the “Coach of the Year” awards from the PBA Press Corps. The award is named after ‘The Maestro’ Virgilio ‘Baby’ Dalupan.
Cone won the award four times already, while Reyes won it six times – the most in PBA’s history.
Game 1 of the finals will be on Sunday, October 27, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
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Jayson Castro scored 16 points and made an immediate impact in his first game of the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup.
Castro added three steals and two assists in his return to help TNT Tropang Giga get the 109-93 victory over the Blackwater Bossing on Thursday night, December 19, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The nine-time PBA champion missed TNT's first three games due to hamstring issues.
TNT's all-around import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson supported Castro with his 22 points, nine rebounds, five dimes, five deflections, and a block.
Four more Tropang Giga scored in double digits to get their second straight victory of the tourney. Rey Nambatac contributed 19, Calvin Oftana provided 18, RR Pogoy put up 12, and Glenn Khobuntin added 10.
Meanwhile, Blackwater high-scoring import George King, who averaged 39 points per game, was only limited to a conference-low 28 markers on 10-of-22.
The Bossing also don't have their prized rookie Sedrick Barefield due to injury.
With King being handcuffed and Barefield not in the lineup, RK Ilagan stepped up and poured out 19 points highlighted by 3-of-3 shooting from the arc.
The game was the last of the year for both teams.
TNT will be back in action on January 7 against Meralco Bolts, while Blackwater will come back on January 8 to face Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
Sweet-shooting guard Jordan Heading and import Cheick Diallo poured out 21 points each to lead Converge in their victory over the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 116-105, on Thursday night, December 19, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The win marked the first time that the FiberXers won back-to-back games in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner's Cup and improved their record to 4-2.
Besides Heading and Diallo, four more Converge players scored in double digits. Schonny Winston and Bryan Santos contributed 16 apiece, while Alec Stockton and BJ Andrade added 14 and 11, respectively.
Their twin towers, ace center Justin Arana and top pick rookie Justine Baltazar both came out with six markers.
"We give credit to our guys," said FiberXers acting head coach Franco Atienza, who admitted that he was anxious when Phoenix made a good start that led to a 20-2 lead.
"We just stuck on, we didn't panic. We returned to how we want to run our system, how to run our offense, our defense," Atienza added.
Converge will have a chance to extend their win streak when they face Barangay Ginebra on Saturday, December 21, in Batangas City, and against Meralco Bolts on Christmas day at the Big Dome.
Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell led Phoenix with 30 points and 18 rebounds. He was supported by RJ Jazul's 20, Tyler Tio's 13, and Ricci Rivero's 11.
The Fuel Masters now have a 1-5 win-loss record after dropping their final game of the year.
The Scores:
CONVERGE 116 - Heading 21, Diallo 21, Winston 16, Santos 16, Stockton 14, Andrade 11, Arana 6, Baltazar 6, Racal 5, Delos Santos 0, Caralipio 0.
PHOENIX 105 - Smith 30, Jazul 20, Tio 13, Perkins 12, Rivero 11, Tuffin 8, Verano 4, Garcia 3, Soyud 2, Manganti 2, Salado 0, Alejandro 0, Muyang 0, Ular 0, Daves 0.
Quarter Scores: 15-30, 48-54, 87-80, 116-105.
San Miguel failed to earn its breakthrough win in the 2024-25 East Asia Super League (EASL) after bowing to Hong Kong Eastern, 62-71, at Southorn Stadium in Hong Kong, on Wednesday, December 18.
Kobey Lam spearheaded the pivotal comeback, registering 19 points, which gave the Hong Kong squad its first victory in the EASL game.
Notwithstanding the efforts of June Mar Fajardo and recently signed import Torren Jones for San Miguel, Eastern maintained their lead.
After a difficult turn-around shot by Fajardo, the Beermen were able to cut the margin to just two points at 58-60 in the fourth quarter.
However, just when it appeared that San Miguel had the advantage, Lam blazed through when he scored five of Eastern’s 9-0 run.
Lam also posted three rebounds and one assist for the Hong Kong-based squad, with Chris McLaughlin tallying a double-double of 16 markers and 17 boards, while Glenn Yang contributed 11 for the home team.
Fajardo and Jones led the charge for the Beermen with 19 points each, but their efforts were for naught as they failed to keep the team from suffering a third straight loss and dropping to the bottom of Group A.
The loss was the first in three games for Leo Austria since taking over as coach last week in place of Jorge Gallent.
San Miguel will aim to finally grab their first win in the EASL as they face the Hiroshima Dragonflies on January 8 at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Japan.
The Scores:
Hong Kong 71 – Lam 19, McLaughlin 16, Yang 11, Blankley 7, Xu 5, Leung 5, Chan 4, Zhu 4, Cheung 0, Pok 0, Guinchard 0.
San Miguel 62 – Fajardo 19, Jones 19, Perez 8, Miller 5, Trollano 3, Tautuaa 3, Cahilig 3, Rosales 2, Ross 0, Lassiter 0.
Quarter Scores: 28-14, 48-34, 60-48, 71-62.