MANILA, Philippines – Tim Cone has won 19 PBA championships, including two Grand Slams, but even he was not prepared for the outpouring of gratitude that he received after leading the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings to the 2016 PBA Governors' Cup crown.

Cone's entry to the league's most popular franchise in 2015 boosted the hopes of the team and its long-suffering fans. Ginebra last won a title in 2008, and had to watch as sister teams Purefoods and San Miguel rack up trophy after trophy in seasons past.

It took some time, and there were speed bumps along the way as Cone installed his system and philosophy into Ginebra.

The payoff, however, was tremendous: in a remarkably well-contested series, the Gin Kings outlasted the Meralco Bolts in six games to break an eight-year championship drought.

Over 22,000 fans witnessed Ginebra's coronation last Wednesday, and the celebrations have not stopped since. The team held a fans' day on Sunday at San Juan, and then had another party at the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) head office on Monday. In both events, the Gin Kings were mobbed by their passionate supporters, who all wanted to express their gratitude and happiness at the much-awaited title.

It is a little ironic that Cone could not fully enjoy the celebrations. The multi-titled coach came down with a cold the night of the game, and was "sick as a dog" the morning after. "Today is my worst day," he said Monday. "It's like going down, down, down. Hopefully tomorrow, it starts to pick up a bit."

Even as he struggled with coughs and had to pause to sneeze from time to time, Cone could not help but be amazed at the adoration that his team received from the Ginebra fans.

It is a different kind of love, he admits, than what he felt from fans of his former teams – Alaska and Purefoods.

"I feel like," Cone said, "I can run for Senator."

"It's amazing," he added. "I've had great fans with Alaska, wonderful fans with Purefoods, and Purefoods was the second most popular team. But this –" and at this point he glanced at the SMC employees packed around him in their cafeteria – "this is just a whole new level."

Too much pressure

Cone even compared coaching Ginebra to coaching the national team, in terms of the sheer number of their fans, the passion they have for the squad, and the immense pressure that comes with it. For most of the PBA season, Ginebra has not dealt with that pressure well, he admits. Instead of being boosted by their crowd, it was almost as if they were somewhat overwhelmed by the fans.

"If you watched throughout the whole year, almost every big crowd was a game that we played badly," Cone said ruefully. "It wasn't until the end – Games 4, 5 and 6. The big crowds came, and we started playing better."

"But prior to that, it was like, wow, we finally got a big crowd, but then we played really badly. I was so embarrassed," he added.

The huge number of fans who watched their games added even more pressure for the team, and it led to mistakes. "Just trying too hard to do things, getting frustrated easily when you have that pressure, and it's not going well for you," Cone explained.

"You get frustrated easily, it discourages you, and you lose your spirit. It was like we were disappointing the fans, and the players never wanted to disappoint the fans," he said.

It does not help Ginebra's cause that their big crowd often serve to fire up their opponent, too – something that Cone knows all too well.

"When I was coaching against Ginebra, that was always the big game, because they would have a big crowd and we'd be able to showcase our abilities," he said. "So we were always really pumped to play Ginebra."

"That's the one thing we found. We found out that against Ginebra, everybody brings their A-game, so it's on us to bring our A-game, also."

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Turning point

Even as Cone lamented that they sometimes disappointed their fans with their performances, those same fans would not let them down. As the Gin Kings trailed 1-2 in the best-of-seven finals against Meralco, their supporters rallied around them – on social media and inside the coliseum. Ginebra fans thoroughly outnumbered those of Meralco's, and they were not shy about letting the Bolts know about their presence.

Eventually, the proverbial light bulb moment came for the Gin Kings. "It wasn't until our players learned to use (the fans' presence) as a blessing rather than a burden that we were able to step up," said Cone.

That moment came in Game 4, when veterans Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa took charge for a Ginebra team that seemed to be floundering under the bright lights. At the tail end of their careers, "The Fast and the Furious" can no longer carry the Gin Kings every game, the way they did in their prime, but in Game 4 they turned back the clock for a vintage performance and, in Cone's own words, "saved the series."

"They showed their hunger on their sleeves," Cone said of Caguioa and Helterbrand. "They had such great desire to win, and such great desire to play for the fans. When they came out and we were down, they brought us back in the game."

"I think the whole team just kind of felt it," he added. "Like, wow, the crowd really is for us. We can play, they can really lift us, and we kind of used that for the next couple of games."

Instead of going down 1-3, Ginebra instead tied the series, and then went on to win the next two games. In the final seconds of Game 6, their thousands of fans illuminated the Big Dome with their cell phones, creating a star-lit atmosphere that provided a perfect backdrop for Justin Brownlee's game-winner.

Sweet messages

Cone, the 19-time PBA champion coach, cannot interact with their fans as much as he wants to as he tries to recover from his illness. Yet he remains active on social media, especially on Twitter, where he has been deluged by messages from grateful Ginebra fans.

"Everybody's been so sweet and nice," he said. "Some of the tweets I get are just amazing. They all talk about how their life changed…"

"I had an expat come up to me," Cone related "And he said, 'You're Tim Cone?' I say, yeah. 'You're the coach of Ginebra?' I go yeah, I'm the coach of Ginebra. He says, 'I'm so happy that you won the championship, because my whole house – my wife, all my relatives are all super happy, and my life is really good right now at my house.'"

"So he can feel it," Cone added. "A foreigner, married to a Filipina… He had no idea (about Ginebra), but his whole family and his relatives knew."

There were more stories, more messages, more people who came up to Cone and his players to share how much this championship means to them.

On Sunday at the San Juan Arena, the Gin Kings were able to mingle with fans, take pictures with them, sign autographs. On Monday night, they did it all over again, as the players tried their best to accommodate every person who came up to them.

As his players were being mobbed with requests for selfies and autographs, Cone took time to honor the man who played a big role – perhaps the biggest role – in building the Ginebra fandom to what it is now.

"It all started from Senator (Robert) Jaworski back in the day, and we're just trying to carry on what he's doing," he said.

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Jaworski, as famous for his love for the fans outside the court as he was for his ferocious competitiveness inside it, addressed Ginebra during halftime of Game 6 when they were down by double-digits. Cone said it was a "turning point" for them in that game, playing a big role in their huge third quarter run and eventual victory.

"I coached against him for many years," Cone said. "And I saw very much up close the Ginebra power back then."

"So now, to be part of it, I'd like to continue that legacy for him, for Senator Jaworski. I hope he's happy and proud of us."

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