PBA GovCup Finals: You Dare Question Cone?

Cone: Always the "big picture" thinker

"@manilacone: My responsibility is to try to win another championship for them. I rested James and PJ last night so that they could be fresh for Sunday."

Unnerved, unapologetic and without any traces of regrets. BMeg Llamados' head coach Tim Cone drew a lot of flak from the Llamados' faithful for opting to sit stars James Yap and PJ Simon in yesterday's 84-93 Game 3 loss to the Rain or Shine Elastopainters. The master tactician went on to the post game press conference and even on Twitter to explain his actions, something almost unheard of in his multi-title and stellar coaching career.

But this isn't Alaska, where Cone is the recognized and unquestioned leader. This is the Llamados, they're under San Miguel, they have the biggest fanbase outside of sister company Barangay Ginebra. They are under the spotlight as the recognized glamour boys of the PBA. Win or lose, there's always something to be said about the team moreso its leader-- specially on a pivotal game such as last night's.

Looking back, Cone started benching his starters when they were getting buried by the Elastopainters' avalanche of threes. Yap and Simon were being beaten to ball-swing assignments, leaving Ryan Arana and Jeffrei Chan open to set-up shop at the arc and fire away. The team's stars were out of it mentally, Cone saw this, so he went to his bench guys Jonas Villanueva and Mark Barroca who put together solid performances and even got them closer in the 4th quarter (cutting the lead to as low as 8 or 9 points).

Only, once the Elastopainters' lead was down and momentum was on the Llamados' side, Cone opted to stick with his bench and reward them for their efforts-- pulling a page from adversary Coach Yeng Guiao's playbook. Guiao on the other hand, brought in his stars to ensure victory.

Fans wanted Yap back in. Simon too. But Cone opted to send in Marc Pingris and import Marqus Blakley who were both struggling all night to match the Elastopainters' bigs' intensity and heft. Instead of Yap, little-used Val Acuna was taking open three balls (and hitting nothing but glass). You'd love for Acuna to make it, but you just know that had Yap been on the floor taking those shots, the Llamados could've inched a little closer and the Elastopainters' defense spread a little thinner.

 Cone defends his actions by saying that he's resting his stars for the next game. That he's all about the "big picture" which is nice and all. But as a competitor, he owes it to the fans to always put the best guys on the floor-- something that NBA San Antonio Spurs' head coach Greg Popovich has also drawn flak for.

Should the Llamados win tomorrow night behind a rejuvenated James Yap and PJ Simon (both of whom this writer expects to drop at least 20 points each), then Cone will be praised as a fast forward thinker, a genius ahead of the pack. Should they lose and go down 1-3, then the gamble would have been all for naught.

In summary, this writer believes that Cone saw the complacency and over-confidence in his starters. The fact that the Elastopainters were without their lead guard Paul Lee and that his guys were leaving Jireh Ibanes open on the floor to drill in top-of-the-key threes early, this led Cone to "punish" his starters. It also allowed him the opportunity to showcase his bench and show the world that hey, the Elastopainters' are not the only team in the Finals with solid 6 to 10 guys.