<
>

Tim Cone expects Greg Slaughter to be back versus San Miguel

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel will have little time to prepare for their upcoming semifinals clash against the defending PBA Philippine Cup champions San Miguel Beermen.

After sweeping the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in two games, they now have the tall order of defeating the reigning All-Filipino titlists.

"Now we face the monster - that's San Miguel," Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said about their impending bout. "You can refer that to San Miguel or you can refer that to June Mar (Fajardo)."

San Miguel is gunning for their fourth straight Philippine Cup title with no signs of slowing down. They earned the top seed after the eliminations and defeated KaTropa TNT in their quarterfinals matchup, not even needing to use their twice-to-beat advantage.

"You watched San Miguel-Talk 'N Text, and Talk 'N Text was really playing good basketball up until that game," assessed Cone. "They were really turning a hole or a big corner and still, San Miguel out-steadied them all the way through the game."

Cone and company will also have to deal with the frontrunner of the Best Player of the Conference in Fajardo. On Tuesday, the reigning MVP put up 35 points on 15-for-19 shooting and 11 rebounds against TNT. Ginebra hopes that their 7-foot center Greg Slaughter will be ready to face Fajardo and the Beermen.

"Our big question mark obviously is whether Greg is gonna play. I would say, if we're gonna play a day after tomorrow (Thursday), he won't play. But if given another day or two, he may play," Cone said about his prized big man.

Slaughter has been sidelined with an ankle sprain in the last couple of games, forcing him to miss time on the court. The 29-year-old had actually been playing stellar basketball prior to his injury. Last conference during the PBA Governors' Cup, he even won the BPC award.

"But we do expect him back some time in the series. We just hope we don't fall too far behind without him, whether he can make an impact," Cone went on. "That's the big thing for us, whether Greg can play. That would really help us equalize San Miguel."

Ginebra and San Miguel are familiar foes when it comes to playoff basketball. In the 2017 Philippine Cup finals, the Beermen easily dispatched the Barangay in just five games. But Ginebra got the last laugh last season after winning the Governors' Cup title, while also stopping San Miguel's bid for a Grand Slam in their quarterfinal matchup.

However, for someone like Tim Cone who has amassed 20 championships in the PBA, looking into previous playoff encounters isn't something he dwells on.

"I don't play off of revenge," he pointed out. "I never talk about, 'Oh they beat us, now we gotta beat them back or we have a reason to beat them.' For us, it's just about going out, making sure we play our game."

"In fact, if you do that, sometimes you kind of try too hard and extend yourself too much and get yourself out of what you do well. That's not a card that I personally play. Maybe it's a card they will play," the veteran mentor added.

Ginebra has a huge task ahead of them, but as coach Tim Cone mentioned, having a Greg Slaughter will certainly be a big boost.

"We're gonna have a hard time but we're hoping for a heck of a series. We're hoping to see what we can do against them, take the challenge," Cone said.