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Battle of great minds highlight the PBA Finals
It will be a battle between pals who have been successful in their coaching career in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup Finals.
Coaches Tim Cone and Chot Reyes will face each other again after 12 years since they last battled one another.
The two mentors met in the PBA Finals six times already but the last time was way back in 2012 when the B-Meg Llamados of Cone defeated Reyes’ Talk N’ Text, 90-84, in overtime of the Game 7 of Commissioner’s Cup finale.
A win in the upcoming series will give one of the coaches an advantage as they split their head-to-head encounter at 3-3.
Cone is happy that his team is in the Finals again and it will be against his good friend Reyes that he will battle again. Coach Chot was Coach Tim’s chief deputy when they were still starting together in Alaska.
Photo Courtesy: PBA Images
"We are really just happy that we are back in and going to pit against my good friend coach Chot again," said the Barangay Ginebra mentor.
"There's always been that rivalry between Ginebra and TNT. Looking forward to mixing it up with my buddy," he added.
Cone led the Kings to the championship after a grind out battle against the San Miguel Beermen whom they finished in the Game 6 of their semifinals series, 102-99, while Reyes and the Tropang Giga dominated the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the Game 5 of their own series, 113-95 to reach the Finals.
Coach Tim is the most accomplished coach in PBA history with 25 titles tucked under his belt and he is looking to add more with the series coming ahead.
On the other side, Coach Chot has nine championships and is looking for his 10th.
Both coaches also have a combined total of 10 “Coach of the Year” awards from the PBA Press Corps, which is named after 'The Maestro' Virgilio 'Baby' Dalupan. Reyes has a total of six while Cone has four.
Game 1 of the finals will be on Sunday, October 27, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
