Special Feature: Tim Cone and the San Mig Grand Slam — How once in a lifetime happened twice

On Wednesday night, pandemonium erupted at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, as more than 23 thousand people rejoiced when the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers defeated the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 92-89, in a do-or-die Game Five in the 2014 Governor's Cup finals series.

 

It was a great game. In the end, with San Mig Coffee up by only three points, James Yap and Mark Barroca missed two free throws each, leaving Rain or Shine with a chance to tie. The Elasto Painters had their chances, with top guns Paul Lee and Jeff Chan finding good looks, but their shots failed to fall.

 

As the buzzer sounded, a Grand Slam. A very rare feat. So rare it has only been done four times before, and most recently by the same man coaching San Mig. 

 

"I'm overwhelmed by it," said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone shortly after the win, when his players drenched him with a celebratory ice bath.  

 

"The water hit me but this whole thing has not hit me yet." 

 

The thing is, that last Grand Slam happened so long ago, in 1996. 

 

To put that in perspective, the top song on the Billboard Hot 100 then was the "Macarena" followed by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day" and Celine Dion's "Because You Loved me." It was so long ago, Keifer Ravena was only three years old, Jeron Teng only two, when it happened.

 

Many basketball fans of this generation didn't simply forget. Half of them weren't conscious enough to recall. The other half weren't even born. This is why, for the establishment of world order in Philippine basketball, a Grand Slam had to happen for this generation.

 

"For this generation," yes. This generation is so entitled that it stomped around and demanded a Grand Slam. Super special teams should have fairytale endings. It had to be a barometer of how good we can have it in this world.

 

San Mig Coffee had to, for failing would have broken the collective hearts of a generation or two.

 

But this generation needs to realize how hard this Grand Slam was. How special it is.

 

Just like the movies
 

 

The stage was set for the ultimate battle on Wednesday and the two teams were more than happy to oblige. Marqus Blakely and James Yap led San Mig's offense by peppering the Rain or Shine interior in the first. The two combined for 15 of SMC's 23 points to RoS' 16. 

 

But just as they've done numerous times before, the Elasto Painters came back. A taller lineup with Raymond Almazan, Jervy Cruz, Gabe Norwood, Jeff Chan and Jonathan Uyloan shadowed the San Mig guards in the second period, forcing 12 turnovers. Paul Lee then came in and together with Norwood, accounted for 13 points, as the Elasto Painters crept closer at the half, 43-38. In the third, San Mig was able to establish a 16-point lead before Arizona Reid carried Rain or Shine. The Best Import's 11 points, along with eight more from Lee slashed 13 from the deficit to make it a three-point game after three, 73-70.

 

The trend continued in the fourth. The two teams matched each other, haymaker for haymaker. The only difference between the two teams was a guy named James Yap. Big Game James quelled every Rain or Shine uprising with his pretty one-handers en route to a 29-point performance, securing San Mig's victory.

 

The exchange was a sight to see. It was like seeing FPJ take hits from goons led by Paquito Diaz, or Ultraman faltering after some blows from a large reptile from the Mesozoic era. But every single time, Yap, perhaps channeling his inner FPJ and Ultraman, kept Rain or Shine at bay, rising up each time for one of those picture-perfect one-handed shots.

 

The perfect villains
 

 

The saga wouldn't have been such a joy to watch if there wasn't an able and willing villain, too. Rain or Shine fit the bill to a T. They were unapologetic, gritty, and sometimes even reckless. They showed their emotions and were more than happy to indulge the San Mig crowd in banter. Inside the Big Dome, their fans were outnumbered, like a regimen going up against a whole army. But they didn't care.

 

Let's play devil's advocate and flirt with the idea of Rain or Shine winning. What if Jeff Chan, Paul Lee, or Arizona Reid hit that triple to send it into overtime? What if any of those men hit the long bomb and fished a foul to boot. What if they completed the four-point play as the buzzer expired and Yeng Guiao cemented the his pomp with two fists up in the air in front of a shocked and silenced Big Dome?

 

It would have been an awesome storyline, too. Rain or Shine. The name doesn't really roll off one's tongue well. They sell paint. Do people even know what Elastomeric paint does? It doesn't really matter. All that matters is that they're made up of characters like Yeng Guiao, bruiser Beau Belga, sharpshooters Paul Lee and Jeff Chan, along with a slew of equally effective and hardworking men. Minus Guiao's over-the-top antics, they could have easily been the country's version of the San Antonio Spurs- a small market team with a scoring point guard, a reliable wing, and although Belga's no Duncan, an able big.

 

"It's really just postponing the party," said Yeng Guiao after their Game Four win. "I hope we have the chance to cancel it on Wednesday."

 

But that's something the cosmos didn't allow. Perhaps it wasn't Paquito Diaz' day to win just yet.

 

Sweeter victory
 

 

Victory is sweet, and having to work for it against Rain or Shine only made it sweeter for San Mig Coffee. With all the challenges San Mig Coffee had to face, Cone couldn't help but reflect how this Grand Slam journey was different from his Alaska team's from 1996.

 

"The team in Alaska, they had more a lot more breaks. The conferences were longer," recalled Cone of his old team. 

 

In 1996, Alaska marched through the Governors' Cup finals, going up 3-0 against Ginebra in the Grand Slam-clinching series.

 

"There was a certain inevitability about it with the Alaska team. Here, we were just guessing all the time whether we were gonna do this or not. The Alaska team of that third conference of that '96 year was so dominant. They won 13 games in a row and we just swept through the playoffs. We knew we were gonna win it. Here we had to earn it. It had to come down to the last two seconds. And I guess in a way, I don't wanna say it's any sweeter, but the harder you work the sweeter it is."

 

This season, San Mig Coffee had to contend with a PBA scheduled compressed because of the upcoming campaign of Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Basketball World Cup. The Mixers have effectively been playing high-level basketball since last August, when it embarked on a Governors' Cup campaign that started their streak of four straight PBA titles.

 

"We haven't had two days off in a month and a half, just constant playing 10-11 months without any true breaks. No training camps, no time to really teach Ian [Sangalang] and Justin [Melton]. They had to learn on the fly," said Cone. "It was really difficult in that regard, just keeping the energy going and the routine. We couldn't break from the routine. Parang after a while, it gets boring. Coming to practice, playing, 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... just amazing."