Tim, Mixers bring back pro league’s glory years

MANILA, Philippines - Grand slams belong to the past, to those early years when the pro league was marked by dynastic reigns and fierce rivalries.

That’s why when the San Mig Coffee Mixers secured the PBA’s fifth slam before a huge crowd Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, it brought to mind some of the shining moments of those throwback years.

It doesn’t happen on this era of on-line infotech and gadgets for the simple reason that the PBA has long dismantled the rivalries of the elite and the powerful and came up with a balance of power and parity among the ballclubs.

 And it seems unlikely that one team would make a dominant run and rack up records. But that’s until coach Tim Cone and the Mixers came  along and defied the odds, played some old school basketball and virtually brought the league back to its glory years.

A crowd of nearly 24,000 stood as witness as the Mixers completed the epic feat by pulling off a dramatic 92-89 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in a do-or-die battle.

The Mixers went on to wrap the Triple Crown feat not seen in the league in 17 years.

No less than five teams – Talk n Text, Rain or Shine, Alaska Milk, San Miguel Beer (Petron) and Barangay Ginebra – took their turn to win a championship in the league in the last six years. In five years where the league shifted to a two-conference format in 2005-10, not a single team annexed a sweep.

But with Cone bringing his coaching brilliance over from Alaska Milk in 2011, James Yap and company hit their full potential, stringing up five crowns in a run peaking with their Triple Crown conquest.

It’s a feat that would surely be celebrated for a long time.

“We’re so lucky we got coach Tim as our coach. He’s really good,” said Yap.

In eight years and in 21 conferences, that’s what the Purefoods/San Mig Foods franchise had got until Cone came along.

He drew the best from the Mixers in their Philippine Cup title run and brought in the perfect imports – James Mays then Marqus Blakely – in their amazing  rides in the Commissioner’s Cup and then Governors Cup.

“This didn’t seem possible, even for me,” said Cone, the league’s winningest coach with a record two grand slams and a record total of 18 championships.

“Eighteen years ago (with Alaska) was such a special moment and I told the guys, you only get to do that once in your life. As for me and (former Alaska ace guard and now San Mig assistant coach) Johnny (Abarrientos), we’ve been able to do it twice. That’s just two blessings,” Cone also said.

“I told the players, this is going be the best time of your life right now. This is the one you’ll always remember in your career, winning that grand slam. It’s a special moment for all of us,” Cone added.

Twice beaten in the finals this season, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao lauded Cone.

“He’s going to be a future hall-of-famer. He’s going to be unique in the respect that I don’t think any other coach can still get two grand slams with the way the competition has developed,” Guiao added.

“This championship, this four-peat, this grand slam hasn’t hit me yet. I’m overwhelmed by it,” Cone said.

“I’m consumed with it every day, and now, I’m going crazy without anything to do,” he said. “I have to sit at home in a quiet room with the lights off and close my eyes, let this thing sink in.”