MANILA, Philippines -- IN the process of becoming the PBA’s all-time winningest coach, Tim Cone said he has learned to respect the game of basketball. And he did that again last Friday when Barangay Ginebra beat Blackwater, 101-96, to close the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup elimination, securing the third seed in Group B heading into the playoffs.  The Gin Kings ended tied with the Phoenix Super LPG, but gained the better seeding as they owned a superior point differential. The higher seeding though pushed Cone and his Gin Kings to an early playoff showdown with sister team San Miguel Beer.  Cone knows that very well, but he still went against the notion of “choosing” your playoff opponent by giving up a win. “You fight your way into the playoffs and your reward is you have to play San Miguel. I think once you get into that thing where you start choosing, it’s just like bad karma or whatever,” said Cone, the 26-time PBA  champion coach. “I’ve always felt that through the years, you play the game the way you’re supposed to play, you play it hard and you play it to win, and then you let the cards fall where they may and you take care of business of what’s in front of you,” he added. But a look at the Gin Kings’ other playoff scenario had they lost to the Bossing, their situation won’t be easy as well since they will have to face the red-hot NLEX Road Warriors in the quarterfinal round. Cone recognized NLEX as a legitimate title contender under new coach Jimmy Alapag. “I don’t think there was much of a choice between NLEX and San Miguel in the first place. NLEX has been playing great, great basketball all conference long,” he said. “They beat us in a practice game, so it wasn’t really a team that we weren't excited to play either. And obviously, we are not excited to play San Miguel. But we’ll take on all comers.” Perhaps battling the Beermen in a best-of-five series remains the better alternative compared to playing in a twice-to-win situation against NLEX. “That kind of equals it all out,” Cone said. “It should really be a really good battle to see who comes in. I think the match-ups are kind of very interesting.” Ginebra begins its best-of-five series versus San Miguel on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. RICHARD DY