This was the transcript of San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone's post game press conference, moments after the Coffee Mixers nailed its fourth straight title and becoming only the fifth team in the 39-year history of the PBA to achieve a rare Grand Slam.
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“This championship, this four-peat, this Grand Slam still hasn’t hit me yet. I’m overwhelmed by it. Every time that we came into a big game, I’d say this is the time it ain’t going to happen. We play with fire too much, it ain’t gonna happen. Somehow, the guys found a way. We do it again, get to a Game 7 or Game 5 or even a Game 3 in a best-of-3, it ain’t gonna happen this time. The odds are not in our favor, and the guys again just found a way.
“Its been amazing to watch them. To watch a guy like Ping who brings the energy every day. There are just those times when he’s really truly ubos – he’s just have nothing, and you can see it in the games and you think, ‘Uh-oh. That’s it.’ And the next game, he comes back and he’s just everywhere. His ability to recover and continue to play.
“And then the calmness of James Yap. We were talking about it before the game and we really have guys who are really pumped up. Joe (Devance) was jumping around, Ping was jumping around, everybody was so intense, and James was kind of like in the corner, just kind of relaxed. I told the coaching staff that’s why he’s Big Game James. Nothing fazes him. He just comes out, and plays calmly, and is able to withstand the big moments, and tonight again, he played that big moment.
“Marqus (Blakely) coming back back-to-back, for him, that’s incredible. He started it for us and he finished it for us.
“Just watching the journey we had and being able to watch these guys and just observe them, it was truly an honor.
“I don’t know if this was the hardest Grand Slam to win, but it’s got to be one of the hardest of the five. The schedule, the games consecutively like that every day. We had day off on June 4 and we had a day off on June 27, and those were the last two days we had up to this point, and this is July 9 already. We had two days off in June and somehow we figured out to get to this last day, and now, I guess we have a chance for a break.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t want to think about it anymore. It’s over. It’s done. It’s like I’m consumed with it every day, and now, I’m gonna go crazy not having anything to do. It will be a nice crazy though. Nice crazy.”
On the prospects of the 40th season of the PBA, two expansion teams coming in, and coaching against Manny Pacquiao
“Its gonna get tougher – it always does. The toughest thing for us is making the decisions on who were gonna give to the dispersal draft. We had such a beautiful core players and we have guys who, I just want to mention Ken Bono, Lester Alvarez, guys who don’t get to suit up but they just come every day, JR Cawaling, and do their jobs day-in and day-out. No fanfare, we don’t really say anything. They don’t get congratulated but they’re just a big a part of this team as anybody. Somehow, we got to make some decisions this conference and honestly, I don’t know how it’s gonna work but that’s the hard part with the three (sic) teams that are coming in. We’re gonna have to break up our team a little bit. That’s gonna hurt. But on the other hand, the guys that go are gonna have the opportunity to get to a team they could play and show themselves, and we wish them the very, very best.
“As for Manny (Pacquiao), coach Manny, player Manny, he’s gonna add some excitement to the game.
“I just think that people don’t really know how good the NBA is. The NBA is really good. The coaching there, the playing there – it is really good. It’s much better than we could even imagine. And I think, for us here, I think people don’t realize how good the PBA is, how good these players are, how good the coaching is, how much strategy goes on, how much discipline and effort goes on. And I think that’s an exciting time that you bring a guy, just an iconic figure like Manny Pacquiao and bring him to the league. I think people will realize just really how good this league is. It will be an eye-opener, I think, for everybody, honestly. I think it’s neat.”
“He started to walk over and I think he stopped at when the celebration started going on. And I just had so much appreciation on what he did in this series. We got up by 15, and I said in the TV interview this team (Rain or Shine) will not crack. They just keep coming at you, coming at you, coming at you, and they came out and fought to the very end, the last shot, the very last shot of the game right there.
“We bailed them out by missing a couple of free throws, or four free throws in fact, and gave them the extra chances. But I just wanted to make sure that coach Yeng didn’t get off that court without me telling him my appreciation for how great a coach he is. It was important to me, that’s why I ran down.”
“I need to get my shirt changed. I need to get my underwear changed. They got me good.
Tempo assistant sports editor Tito Talao: Who did it?
“I think it was Marqus. He was the one that was snickering in the back, hit me back for all the times I yelled at him.”
Reflection on winning his second Grand Slam
“I’m overwhelmed by it. The water hit me but this whole thing has not hit me yet. I have to sit at home at a quiet room with the lights off and just close my eyes and really let this thing sink in. This didn’t seem possible, honestly. Didn’t really seem possible even to me. The fact that 18 years ago was such a special moment, and I tell the guys, you only got to do that once in your life. And right now, two of us, (assistant coach) Johnny (Abarrientos) and myself, we’ve been able to do it twice in our lives. That’s just two blessings.
“I told our players, this is gonna be the greatest time of your life right now, right here. This is gonna be the best time of your life. This is the one you’ll always remember in your career, is winning that Grand Slam. Johnny said, you know, of all the things I remember about my career, its winning the Grand Slam. It’s a special moment for all of us.
“Obviously, it’s special for me. Like I said, I didn’t think this could be done. We’re blessed that twice, I’ve had successful guys who bonded in a special way and did special things. Ordinary people can’t do that. That’s what those guys did today. Like I said, I talked about the journey earlier. To me, watching day-in and day-out to get all the way up too here, it was just an amazing ride and an honor.”
Comparing the 1996 Alaska Grand Slam team to the 2013-14 San Mig Coffee Grand Slam team
“This batch was much more frantic or frenetic, ‘cause we had games every day. I talked earlier about the day off, the two days off in a month and a half. And just the constant playing, we played straight for about 11 months basically, and without any true breaks. No training camps, no time to really teach Ian and Justin, and they had to learn on the fly. It was really, really difficult in that regard, and just keeping the energy going, and the routine every day. We couldn’t break from the routine. After a while, it gets boring. Coming to practice, playing, coming to practice, playing, coming to practice – it really gets, it’s a boring routine after a while. It’s hard to keep everybody interested, so that was their mental strength and their physical strength was just amazing.
“The team in Alaska, they had a lot more breaks, the conference is longer and we weren’t rushing. We also played the Finals against Ginebra and got 3-0. There was a certain inevitability about it with the Alaska team. Here, we were just guessing all the time, whether we’re gonna do this (Grand Slam) or not.
“The Alaska team in that third conference of that ’96 year was so dominant. They won 13 games in a row, and again, just swept through the playoffs. It was a certain level of inevitability. We knew we’re gonna win it.
“Here, it was like, ‘Whoa.’ We had to earn it down. It has to come down to the last two seconds and we had to earn it, and I guess in a way, I don’t want to say this as any sweeter, but the harder you work for it, all the time, the sweeter it is."
Inquierer reporter Musong Castillo: Who would win, coach?
“Its different teams in different eras. It’s like the Bulls against the Lakers, or the Bulls against the Heat now, or the Celtics against the Heat.
“Its different eras. Johnny in his era has Sean (Chambers) and everything, now you got, 6-9, 6-10 centers and you’re playing all the time. You got (June Mar) Fajardo's. We didn’t have Fajardos and Gregs in those times in different eras, it’s just a different era. But they are both special. They are both special in a special way.
“Coaching Jojo (Lastimosa) was a thrill, coaching James is a thrill. Coaching Johnny was a thrill, Mark (Barroca), you know, PJ (Simon) – I don’t think you can compare apples and oranges.”
