MANILA, Philippines — The "incredible" crowd at Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday played a massive role in helping the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings come away with the win in Game 7 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series against Star.
This, according to Ginebra coach Tim Cone, who repeatedly lauded the team's fans for cheering their hearts out in the knockout duel against the Hotshots.
There were 20,221 paying patrons at MOA Arena on Tuesday night, a great percentage of whom were clad in Ginebra colors. They were hyped up from the very beginning of the game, when the Gin Kings opened up a quick 6-0 lead, and they grew even louder at halftime when Ginebra legend Sonny Jaworski made his much-anticipated entrance.
"It's incredible," Cone said of the crowd after the game. "I think I mentioned this once before, but there was a time in the middle of the series where I felt we didn't have it anymore. I just honestly felt, ubos na, forget it, let's go home. We weren't gonna beat this team.
"We were dragging in practice, we were dragging in the pre-game meetings. I could feel it. I said, 'Man, we're hitting a wall here,' " he added.
Once Ginebra walked onto the court, however — whether it be at the MOA Arena or at the Araneta Coliseum — the team immediately became re-energized just by hearing the roar of the crowd.
Cone revealed that at the end of the game, Star assistant coach Jason Webb came up to him and said: "You're still able to do it."
"And, I said, 'We didn't do it, the crowd did it. The crowd did it for us,' " Cone replied.
Indeed, Cone believes that Ginebra fans provided the difference in Game 7, which he says is a 50-50 game, with neither team truly having momentum.
"I think the edge was not the players, and not the coaching. The edge was really the crowd," he stressed.
"Purefoods (now Star) has a great crowd, and I love their crowd, but Ginebra has a whole new level. I think that was the difference in this series.
"We had a little bit more energy in the 7th game because we had the crowd pushing us."
They are going to need the "Barangay" to show up for at least four more games, as they move on to face San Miguel in a best-of-seven finals series.
"I'm hoping they keep coming because we're gonna need them against San Miguel," said Cone.
Game 1 of the finals is on Friday at MOA Arena.
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