MANILA, Philippines — Tim Cone and the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings should've had the perfect ending to the PBA bubble in Clark City, with their first-ever Philippine Cup title since 2007 in their hands.
But one thing was missing for the squad on that fateful Wednesday night in the AUF Gym that had always been a constant in the past 12 championships for Ginebra, their ever important sixth man — the fans.
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With the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) still wreaking havoc around the country, Ginebra faced a unique kind of celebration once they lifted that Philippine Cup trophy — no fans, no family; just the team and the coaching staff.
Cone recently spoke about the distinctive feeling of winning in the bubble in the recent episode of Noli Eala's Powe & Play.
"It was kind of like looking around and saying what do we do? How do we celebrate this?," quipped Cone.
"Confetti was going up in the air, that gave us a little bit of a sense but it was like usually you turn to your wife, your family, your friends are coming around, the fans are cheering, you're yelling up at the stands but it was just different," he added.
Perhaps the most storied of all PBA franchises, Ginebra's fanbase is one of the most active in the league and has long been part of the journey for their team.
But with no one in the stands to celebrate with them, Cone relished the feeling of being with his players in a historic PBA season that hopefully need not be repeated.
"We just looked at each other and gave each other a few hugs," Cone said.
Fans or not, the moment was still one to be remembered for Cone and the rest of the Gin Kings — ending a 13-year long drought for a Philippine Cup trophy.
"LA came over to me, gave me a hug and said 'We finally did it, we finally got an All-Filipino,'." Cone said.