By the Numbers: 2 Reasons why Tim Cone will Lead Ginebra to Another Championship

Because there are reasons why Tim Cone is the greatest coach in the PBA.


This year's Governors' Cup Finals will add another chapter to the rivalry between two of the most respected coaches in the PBA. (Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)


If you need more reasons to be excited for the upcoming Finals series between the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings going up against up the very same team whom they've beaten in last season's Finals of the Governors' Cup which the Gin Kings after Justin Brownlee nailed that buzzer-beating three at the end of Game 6, then just imagine this, folks, come Game 1 on Friday, we will be treated to another mind-blowing, nail-biting mental warfare between two of the greatest and highly-respected head coaches the league has ever seen: Tim Cone versus Norman Black.

Related: Coaches Battle: Tim Cone vs Leo Austria

In the Finals. Sure, it will be the players who will be doing all of the dirty works for their respective but at the end of the day, all of the game plans, all of the defensive schemes are drawn out by the head coaches themselves with the help of their respective team of assistant coaches.

Heading into their 5th Finals series against one another, both Cone and Black acknowledged two different things during the press conference for the upcoming Finals: for Norman Black, the Bolts were the less-experienced team and that lack of experience was one of the reasons why they lost to Ginebra.

But Black was quick to say that since Meralco has already tasted what it feels to be in the Finals, to be kicked in the rear by a monstrous team like the Gin Kings, the next step for the Bolts is to go all the way to the Finals and win their first ever championship in the history of the franchise.

For Tim Cone, on the other hand, the Gin Kings' goal remains the same for this year's Governors' Cup Finals as of the goal they had last year. In fact, Cone mentioned that the Gin Kings' desire to go all out in the Finals is fueled by their 5-game defeat from the hands of the San Miguel Beermen during the season opener Philippine Cup Finals. The Ginebra tactician also added that he is hoping that his players will use that losing experience to motivate themselves in the Finals.

However, Tim Cone will come out on top in this specific match-up against Norman Black despite the mere fact that the Bolts have more firepower and Allen Durham is also playing exactly like the Best Import he was last year and he will be again this year.

Why? Scroll down for the numbers:


31 Finals Appearances. 19 Championships

This is the main reason why Tim Cone is dubbed as the winningest coach in the PBA. His 19 PBA championships have long surpassed the 15 of the legendary Baby Dalupan. Cone won 19 of his 31 trips to the Finals, a 61% winning percentage in the Finals.

Norman Black isn't far behind with 11 championships. But what differentiates Cone from Black is the fact that the former won 2 Grand Slams from two different franchises- the only one to do so in the history of the PBA and that is something that the great Baby Dalupan never achieved.



0-4: Norman Black's record against Tim Cone in the Finals 

Like it or not, Norman Black, despite his vast experience as a player and as a coach, hasn't cracked the code to beat Tim Cone in the Finals. And since Tim Cone has again, defeated Black in last year's Finals of the Governors' Cup, he certainly knows that he can do it again this year knowing that he has something that he didn't have last year: Gregory William Slaughter who was out last year after undergoing a season-ending surgery.

Even though Norman Black and Slaughter enjoyed success during their run with Ateneo in the UAAP, Tim Cone is something that Norman Black isn't: a great motivator.

Thanks to Cone, Slaughter has risen and helped Ginebra against Talk N Text in their semifinal series. And if you are Tim Cone, you'd surely want to keep your unblemished record against Norman Black in the Finals, right?

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