REYNALD MAGALLON

Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone was just left amused with Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian following their grueling back-and-forth chess match at the sidelines of the Finals series which went the distance on Sunday, Jan. 15.

Cone, bagging his 25th chip after the Kings’ 114-99 victory over the Dragons in Game 7, might have the last laugh against Goorjian but the former still couldn’t believe the latter’s coaching wits especially with the game adjustments he’s done with his players coming in and out of the lineup due to injuries.

“Brian Goorjian is really special, I can honestly say that,” Cone said of the Australian champion coach noting how the Dragons’ mentor was forced to play with different lineups all throughout the course of the series and still remained competitive, even managing to drag the game to a decider.

“He had to go through basically three different lineups in this series,.. his team stayed in the flow and when they lost Nicholson their spirit was incredible. Their motors were really lifted instead of going down and feeling sorry for themselves,” said Cone.

Goorjian, a six-time NBL champion and a bronze medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, steered the young Dragons squad to the Finals with import Andrew Nicholson playing up until the Game 3, where the former NBA player went down with an ankle injury. 

With the Kings leading the series, 2-1, and without their best player on the court, Goorjian pressed the right buttons and rallied his squad to a stunning victory in Game 4 despite playing an all local crew.

Goorjian had to make a couple more adjustments with Glen Yang also sitting out the Game 5 loss and Myles Powell coming back for the last two games of the series.

Seeing how Goorjian weaved his hands through the adversity and playing with the cards that he was dealt with, left Cone head scratching in disbelief every time they reviewed the videos of the game.

“When you get into the series, that’s when you really get impressed by the coach because all the adjustments, things they did, just had me scratching my head when I’m watching the video,” said Cone who admitted that if Bay Area didn’t have to go through the injuries, there could be a different outcome in the finale.

“He was really, really impressive and it was hard to keep up. The bottom line is we had a healthier lineup than they did and if they had a healthier line up, I don’t know if I will still be on this podium,” said Cone.