By Reuel Vidal

THE first game of the best-of-seven finals series of the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association was more than a win for Coach Tim Cone; it was an eye opener of sorts.

The game started badly for the Alaska Aces.

“They came out and played their game right there in the first quarter. It was a bit scary. They scored 30 points right in the first period. We really had to get back to our defense and the fundamentals,” said Cone.

The Talk and Text players were all over Willy Miller, according to the Alaska mentor.

“They put so many different defenders on Willy. They start off with [Jared] Dillinger and then they moved to [Jason] Castro and then they moved to [Macmac] Cardona, then they moved to Jimmy [Alapag]. Everybody went after him.”

Cone saw he was not getting the expected help from his usual source of strength.

“There were parts of the game when we lost our discipline and we put up a quick shot. Our guys recovered at the other end and made defensive stops down the stretch. That was the key,” said Cone who got the boost he needed from a half-expected source.

“LA Tenorio played a great game and from the very start we were out there to control our tempo. He picked and chose at the time whether he is going to attack and when it is time to pull back. It was really up to him to do that. It was vintage Johnny Abarrientos.”

At this point, Cone grew nostalgic.

“To me, it was like in the 1990s when we had Johnny. Johnny had a real instinct and range for that kind of stuff and LA does the same thing. LA just knew when to attack, when to slow down and when to keep us going. He also did a good defensive job on both Jimmy and Castro who were just two extremely, extremely tough guys to guard,” Cone elaborated on the talents of his point guard.

When asked if he anticipated this development when the Alaska Aces traded for Tenorio, Cone explained, “We looked at him and we felt that he had great heart. When we played him, he was one of the toughest guys we had to guard. He was so quick. He was so explosive. He was intelligent. That was what we were looking for.”

“And that great heart of his and intelligence, he has blossomed in fact more than I thought he was capable of. He has really blossomed from the first couple of weeks I had him. I really thought that he was a young Johnny. I thought he was that capable.”

But Cone was quick to add that LA “wants to be his own man anyway. He does not want to be a successor of Johnny. He wants to be just LA. But to me personally it is the best compliment that I can give him. It is such a tremendous compliment referring to him as Johnny and it really gives you that sense that he played just like that, just like Johnny.”

Anyway, Johnny or no Johnny, LA played the needed great game at the right time and he is making his mark as himself, LA Tenorio.