Hotshots win 2nd straight but Cone still unhappy

MANILA, Philippines -- Purefoods Star, obviously still dealing with championship hangover, played just enough to hurdle winless expansion team Blackwater, 90-82, and hit the .500 mark in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night.

Coach Tim Cone himself was far from satisfied with their performance but glad they came away with the win to go up at 3-3, overcoming a 1-3 start after their four-peat feat.

“It certainly wasn’t a scintillating performance. We’re disjointed. We’re not playing well with each other. We wish we played better to give us momentum going to the next game,” said Cone.

“The good news is we’re back to 3-3. We’ve recovered from a 1-3 start. We hope to build from this point and see how far we can go from .500,” Cone added.

Meanwhile, Alaska Milk and San Miguel Beer seek to keep their one-two position as they play Barako Bull and Kia, respectively, Wednesday night also at the Big Dome.

Alaska and Barako take the floor first at 4:15 p.m. with the Aces looking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games. San Miguel and Kia mix it up at 7 p.m. with the Beermen gunning for win No. 6.

PJ Simon and Joe Devance fired 18 and 16 points, respectively, to pace the Hotshots who dealt the Elite a seventh loss.

Cone wasn’t impressed especially coming from a 92-76 blowout of NLEX.

“We’re on and off, but you’ve got to give it to coach Leo (Isaac). Couple of times, we could’ve stretched the lead and blown it open, but they fought back. The game was closer that it was,” said Cone.

Sunday Salvacion and Bryan Faundo fired 14 points apiece while Alex Nuyles and Paul Atadi added 12 each as the Elite stayed right behind the fancied Hotshots all throughout the game.

“The bottom line was we have to go through this game and move forward. Even if it’s a one-point win, that’s what you’re looking for. Anything else is ‘pogi’ points,” said Cone.

“We’re on that tonight. Everyone was trying to score on their own and not on the rhythm of our play,” Cone also said.

Entering the last four minutes of the game, the Hotshots were still holding a precarious lead at 80-72.

Purefoods eased the pressure as Devance and Marc Pingris scored four points apiece as against a basket each from Brian Heruela and Faundo.

Blackwater put up a good fight with seven three-pointers as against Purefoods’ 0-of-9 clip from beyond the arc.

James Yap, Purefoods’ second leading scorer averaging 14 points, struggled for a 3-of-8 field shooting for six points.