ALLAN THE MAN

But Mixers coach Tim Cone downplayed the significance of ending the Tropang Texters’ winning run, which stood at 13 straight coming into the game.

“Breaking their streak is kinda like pogi points. It doesn’t do anything for anybody. It looks good, wow, we were able to break their streak, but it’s just pogi points,” Cone said after his team’s 95-80 victory.

The Mixers have won each of the last two PBA tournaments and have taken the first step of collecting the last jewel in the league’s triple crown. For Cone, the secret is just going out and playing basketball without worrying about looking pretty.

“Frankly, the team that I coach right now, they’re not into pogi points. They just come out and win. The only thing in our mind is not that we broke the streak, but is that we got one win in the series and we’re trying to win the championship,” Cone said.

After taking over the team in 2011, San Mig Coffee has made the finals in five of the last eight PBA tournaments. According to Cone, it starts with the commitment to winning.

“That’s why I like the seriousness of this team. They gave up pogi points long ago and realized (there are) more important things and that’s winning. We didn’t talk about the streak or how we’ll break it. We just talked about winning the championship,” said Cone.

Cone’s counterpart at Talk ‘N Text, Norman Black, said the streak wasn’t a big deal either for his squad.

“We didn’t talk about it. I never talked to the players about it. It’s never been an issue within our team,” said Black.

“Maybe there’s a tendency as you continue to win. Players don’t focus on the things the way they should, but I think we got a wakeup call tonight. San Mig Coffee gave us a wakeup call. I hope and expect they’ll be tuned in to what I have to say tomorrow and they’ll come out and execute what we need to do to win.”