Will history repeat itself for Cone, Uichico?

Alaska's Tim Cone and San Miguel's Jong Uichico

Coaches Tim Cone of Alaska Milk and Jong Uichico of Barangay Ginebra are two of the winningest coaches among active mentors in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

But there are several interesting stories to tell, aside from the fact that their teams are currently on a head-on collision course in the best-of-seven semifinals series of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup.

Cone, one of the few coaches to ever complete a “grandslam" in the league, has had a history of squandering either a 2-0 lead or a 3-1 advantage both in a PBA championship and semifinals series.

For his part, Uichico, owner of nine PBA championships, has shown his ability to fight back from the brink of defeat and win a series, illustrated by the Kings' disposal of Talk ‘N Text in the best-of-five quarterfinals series only recently.

The Aces are now 2-0 against the Kings and the big question is: Will history repeat itself for the two coaches?

“The bottom line is, we’ve been here before (2-0) and Ginebra has been here before (0-2)," Cone told sportswriters after his team’s 90-82 win over the Gin Kings in Game 2.

“In our (Aces') last championship series against Talk ‘N Text, we were up 2-0 and we lost the series. In Talk N Text’s last series against Ginebra, Talk ‘N Text was up, 2-0, and lost the series. We’ll have to come out Sunday (for Game 3) with a firm understanding that it will be really hard to beat Ginebra," added Cone.

Curiously, Cone, who is the second all-time winningest coach with 12 titles, has reason to be cautious despite a jumpstart in the series.

In the 2005-06 All-Filipino Cup, the Aces were up, 3-1, in the best-of-seven semis series and were beaten three straight by the Purefoods Giants, who ended up as the champions.

Alaska also lost two more heartbreaking championship series against Purefoods – the 2002 Governors Cup, after blowing a 2-0 advantage and bowing in seven games, and the 1990 Third Conference best-of-five series, in which they were swept by the Hotdogs of the legendary Baby Dalupan in three straight games after a similar 2-0 head start.

“Nothing is safe with me," said Cone. “I’ve lost in a series even when leading 2-0 or 3-1. Even on my tennis game, I was so good on leading a game, but was having a hard time closing out the match."

Asked about his chances of finally going up 3-0, Cone said: “We’ll see about that. I’ll answer you again if that happens."

For Uichico, who entertained the crowd Sunday when he received a pass from Mark Caguioa from the sidelines and made a heave from the bench, there’s no excuse for not competing even when the squad is short-handed.

“There’s no excuse for us. We have to fight. If we lose, at least we lose fighting and if we win, we won because we fought for it," said Uichico, who received a “delayed on the game" warning from the referees for throwing a shot.

“But at least, we played better compared to Game One, where we really came out flat."

Source: Author Unknown  | GMANews.TV