One win no advantage, say Cone, Gregorio

After breaking the ice, Purefoods Tender Juicy and Alaska Milk try to press on to take control in their respective duels with Red Bull and Sta. Lucia Realty in the Smart-PBA Philippine Cup Final Four at the Astrodome today.

With their victories Sunday, coaches Tim Cone of Alaska and Ryan Gregorio of Purefoods don’t see much advantage yet, thus, they’re raring to make a followup.

In Game Two, Purefoods and Red Bull take the floor first at 4:50 p.m.  Alaska and Sta. Lucia clash at 7:20 p.m.

“The only advantage we’ve got is that we need to win only three games and they need to win four,” said Gregorio. “It’s still a long haul and we still have lots of work to  do.”

“It’s way, way too early to make predictions and one game doesn’t decide a series. It doesn’t guarantee us anything,” said Cone.

Purefoods simply dominated Red Bull in scoring a 103-84 rout in Game One Sunday.

What could add more trouble to Red Bull is the return  of Jondan Salvador from a one-game suspension. Salvador and Carlo Sharma come face to face for the first time since their scuffle last Jan. 16.

Kerby Raymundo, Marc Pingris and rookie Chico Lanete did much damage to Red Bull Sunday. Lanete scored 16 of his 18 points in the third quarter fuelling the team’s back-breaking breakaway.

“Chico’s a big-time player. He’ll be a marked man the next game but he’ll find ways to help the team,” said Gregorio, expressing much confidence in his prized free-agent recruit.

The Bulls, however, look unfazed by their Game One defeat.

Same goes for the Realtors, whose magical ride ended in a 94-107 loss to the Aces Sunday.

Cone himself downplayed the impact of their Sunday triumph.

“I think we’ve won more series when we lost Game One. But given the choice, we’d rather win it than lose it,” said Cone.

Cone thought the two-day rest would be enough for any team to prepare for a turnaround.