Jojo Lastimosa (left) and Tim Cone have won several championships with Alaska. —August DELA CRUZ
Jojo Lastimosa was still enjoying his lunch before his PBA Governors’ Cup Finals press conference on Monday when an influential figure from his past walked by to say hello.
“It’s a familiar voice,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone, mocking his TNT partner’s habit of talking with food in his mouth before shaking hands with him inside the Novotel Manila hotel in Cubao. , Quezon City.
Lastimosa responded with a hearty laugh, showing the level of comfort the two have built over the years as they won multiple championships for Alaska and transformed the franchise into one of the iconic teams of tournament in the 1990s.
“We met at Tali Beach (in Nasugbu, Batangas),” Cone later said after the event, prompting Lastimosa to laugh once again at the inside joke.
“He lives in the North (of Metro Manila), I live in the South, so we are not always connected. But when we do, there’s a level of comfort where you can go away for a long time and when we get together, it’s like coming right back to it,” he added.
This time around, Cone and Lastimosa will have to chase the championship as rivals, with Ginebra seeking a third consecutive title in the season-ending grand prix and TNT looking to play the series spoilers. begins on Easter Sunday.
‘Go home’
The mentor-versus-student angle is among the series’ side-scrolls that could play out either way, with TNT topping the knock-out list and Ginebra returning with another glory.
“It was like coming home,” said Lastimosa. “I always feel comfortable around Tim and there is no animosity between the two of us. I’m excited to be playing on the same field as Tim, and I have a lot of respect for him because he has contributed so much to the sport.”
“I’m just here to learn, and as the series goes on, I know he’s a genius in that area. So we’ll see how it goes,” he added.
Lastimosa, tasked with taking on the TNT role with coach Chot Reyes choosing to focus largely on the Gilas Pilipinas program for the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup, has led TNT to 10 wins in 11 knockouts before leading Tropang Giga to playoff wins over Phoenix and Meralco.
One of TNT’s wins to date has come at the expense of Ginebra, as Tropang Giga erased a double-digit deficit to win 114-105 this past March 17 at the PhilSports Arena in Ho Chi Minh City. Pasig.
Cone and Gin Kings hope to generate a huge response throughout the series and retain their dominant positions in the season-ending convention.
Few surprises
“Every win, if we make it, will be bittersweet,” Cone said. “But we both have work to do and we will do it to the best of our ability. I think there will be respect on both sides of the floor, but there will be tough, fierce competition.
“His organization really wants to win, and we know it; We understand that [because] they played like that for the duration of the conference. And there is no doubt that there are [also] a lot of hunger in our team.
“I think once you taste it, you’ll want to eat more. Our guys are ready to go, and I’m 100% sure theirs are ready too,” Cone added.
Lastimosa believes there will be some surprises when TNT and Ginebra take the crown.
“Even before I was here, we talked to Tim about the system. Sometimes he takes out the Triangle [Offense], sometimes he takes it back, sometimes he edits it,” said Lastimosa. “So for me, there’s no secret here.”
That was unless Cone brought up something Lastimosa had never seen before. request
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