Tim Cone on Bay Area coach: ‘He did a great job of selling it’

The mind games between two legendary coaches have started.

Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian earlier stressed during a guesting in an online show that his team was caught off guard with regards to the changes in officiating in the Finals which resulted in a lopsided loss to Brgy. Ginebra, 81-96, in the series opener.

“I just want to make it clear to everybody that nobody’s complaining about the officials. It’s we’re in the finals and what I didn’t know was how they’re guarding Andrew and there’s a rule that I’ve always played underneath: it’s called freedom of movement. That you’re allowed to run and you’ve got to be able to move. And freedom of movement was not allowed or taken away.” said Goorjian.

“It’s the art of war. And the Filipinos do it better than anybody. It’s your league. We’re the visitors and we’ve got to adapt. We’ve got to learn. Again, it was a surprise to me and my team was not prepared for that. And they will be,” he added.

Brgy. Ginebra head coach Tim Cone, upon learning of his counterpart’s sentiments, admitted that he already knew what was about to happen in Game 2.

“Their coach, coach Brian, did a good job of selling to the press, selling to you guys, and everybody else about the calls from the last game,” said Cone shortly after the visitors evened the best-of-seven championship series at 1 game apiece. “Did a great job of selling it.”

“We knew we were not getting the calls tonight like we’re not a busy team tonight,” he added.

With the series now down to a best-of-five affair, Cone remained positive that the home team will be able to rack up three more victories and eventually claim the trophy of the mid-season conference.

“It’s tough to beat a good team three times in a row which is what we’re trying to do.”