EVEN with an imposing 2-0 lead, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone wants his wards to maintain the same focus as they try to finish off the June Mar Fajardo-less San Miguel Beer this coming Wednesday in their 2022-23 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series.

Admittedly, the American mentor said they never expected the Gin Kings to enjoy a commanding lead in their best-of-five series considering the Beermen are laden with talent and championship experience even without the injured Fajardo.

“If you’re gonna play a good team like San Miguel, it’s nearly impossible to beat them three straight times but we’re we gonna try to do the impossible on Wednesday,” Cone said after his team smothered the reeling Beermen 121-103 on Sunday night in a solid follow-up to their 121-112 triumph in Game 1.

Having been in this situation countless times since he started coaching in 1989 with Alaska, Cone said he never gets tired reminding his players the old cliche of playing “one game at a time.”

“That’s one way we will not look at it for sure because if you start looking for that, and start saying that [you’ve got that] kind of a lead, you open yourself to be kampante (confident) and if you do that to a team like this, then you’re in big trouble,”he stressed.

Historically, San Miguel has never been swept in a race-to-four wins series. In fact, according to PBA chief of statistician Fidel Mangonon, San Miguel’s current situation is just the fourth time the team is into in its franchise history.

No wonder, Cone is aware that the Beermen are capable of bouncing back strongly in Game 3, yet, they intend to focus on their all-out effort to close the series this Wednesday.

A win by Ginebra this Wednesday vaults the league’s most popular squad back to the Governors’ Cup Finals for the fifth time since the 2016 season.