Pals yet fierce foes Cone-Reyes rivalry embellishes coaching legacies

MANILA, Philippines —  Old rivals Tim Cone of Barangay Ginebra and Chot Reyes of TNT are pitted yet again in a chess match in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup finals with a chance to not only bring honor to their respective franchises but also add to their coaching legacies.

Cone is already the winningest of all in PBA history with 25 championships since the 1990s. But Crown No. 26 has eluded him so far, no thanks to the Tropang Giga who thwarted them in back-to-back duels for the Governors’ Cup diadem in 2023 and 2024.

Reyes has 10 in his trophy room, capturing his newest in a 4-2 dispatching of Cone and Co. in the championship series of the season-opening GC last November.

If TNT can repeat against Ginebra in the mid-season conference, it will lift Reyes to a share of third spot with Norman Black in the all-time list of the most decorated mentors with 11, behind the 15 of the late great Baby Dalupan.

Cone and Reyes, good friends off the court and fierce rivals on it, are locked in a standoff after splitting the first two games of the race-to-four CC finals last week.

The two expressed excitement in rekindling their coaching rivalry and engaging in their eighth title confrontation.

“There’s always been that rivalry. You know, we’re friends but we’re competitors. We like to compete and irrespective of the teams we coach, we’ve always had great respect and really come out and compete with each other,” said Cone, a five-time Coach of the Year awardee.

“And it doesn’t change through the years. In fact, it just continues to get heightened the more we go along and the older we get.”

For Reyes, who holds a 4-3 edge in head-to-head championship faceoffs, matching up anew with Cone brings the best in each other and he hopes it helps further cement their contributions to coaching.

“I think the more important thing is the legacy that we leave. Hopefully, we’re two coaches who are not only coaching for the victory of our respective teams but to really leave a mark and a legacy on Philippine coaching,” said the six-time Coach of the Year.

“And at the end, when all of this is said and done, hopefully that’s something that we can both be proud of.”