MANILA, 17 May — Coach Tim Cone is at it again. He knows this thing by heart. He has done this several times in a past not so distant, and, in fact, used to do it almost routinely, conference after conference.

Only this time, he’s aching to recapture the magic and glory of his historic past with the help of his Alaska crew, an entirely different one from the team that made him one of the most successful coaches in the league.

The indefatigable bench taskmaster has just piloted Alaska to the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governor’s Cup against Purefoods, another team with a rich winning tradition.

Alaska and Purefoods — old champion teams with new mission — have set the stage for a titular showdown after ousting their respective semifinal opponents.

The Hotdogs eliminated Coca-Cola 78-75 while the Aces bundled out San Miguel 65-62 in a pair of highly emotional semifinal games that arranged a projected titanic final duel between two old champions raring to get back on the podium.

But it was the Aces who grabbed the spotlight in that pair of semifinal playoffs after knocking out the Beermen, the defending champions, to seal the intriguing best-of-seven finals series pitting two of the league’s most successful squads in the nineties.

The Aces’ victory, likewise, ended the Beermen’s dominance over the past three years.

“Always it’s tough and uphill climb to beat a team like San Miguel,” said Cone after his boys’ wrapped up the series win.

The Aces will be making their first finals appearance since breaking up the nucleus of a team that built a dynasty in the 90s.

Interestingly, too, this marks only the first finals appearance for the Hotdogs in two years. They have been in the finals 14 times before, but they have not won a title since the 1997 All-Filipino Cup when they defeated Gordons Gin in six games, and their sixth in all since joining the league in 1988.

The Hotdogs came close to a championship in the 2000 Governor’s Cup but San Miguel stood in their way to win the crown, four games to one.

Cone is the chief architect of the Alaska that became the team of the 90s after capturing nine titles including the prestigious grand slam in 1996. But last year, Alaska failed to reach the finals for the first time since 1994.

It came a year after the team went through a major revamp. Management tore apart piece by piece a ballclub regarded as one of the best-ever assembled in the league. Gone were Johnny Abarrientos, Bong Hawkins, Jojo Lastimosa and Edward Junio.

Then came the painstaking task of rebuilding. Management injected fresh talent to Alaska which continued to be competitive but not yet of a championship material.

So, naturally, it came as a big surprise for Cone that Alaska is back in the finals so soon.

“It’s a wonder and it’s truly amazing,” said Cone, whose wards had to beat multititled San Miguel 3-2 in a best-of-five semifinal series to get a crack at another crown.

But Cone swears his 19th appearance in the finals — the most by an active coach — in a 13-year checkered career is also the most difficult, if only for the young team he had with him on this ride as well as the rough road they took together on the way to the finals of the import-laced conference. Prior to this, the Aces needed a streak of good fortune to get into the playoffs as a twice-to-beat team.

Abarrientos, Hawkins and Juinio were gone, and, yes, Kenneth Duremdes, too — who was lent by Alaska to the national team which is preparing for the country’s participation in the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, in September.

Instead, Cone had to rely on young turks like Don Allado and John Arigo and imports Ron Riley and James Head.

“I’m proud of the way our guys stepped up. It really shows how far our young players have gone in the maturation process,” said Cone moments after dismissing San Miguel in the deciding Game Five of the race-to-three affair.

Making it to the finals was already a big achievement for Alaska.

During the eliminations, Cone confessed he didn’t think his boys could win another game because “we weren’t good enough” and he told his players so.

No way he imagined reaching the finals. But when Alaska claimed a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, Cone saw a glimmer of hope.

“This will get us off to a good start in our rebuilding. It will also be good for our young guys who’ll get a feel of how it is to be in the finals, learn from the experience and mature,” he said.

Now Cone and Co. will start a new Alaska era — the 2002 edition Aces. So everything seems new to him.

“It’s not that long but it seems like a long, long time ago,” he confessed.

Actually, it has just been two years since Alaska last played in the finals, but the journey back to it had been both an uphill climb for the ballclub that Cone, understandably, feels like ages had passed along the way.

But Cone insists the success of this young team so far is kind of superficial, coming as it is in a tournament that featured two imports on each side who can plug a lot of holes and cover for a lot of the weaknesses of the local line-up.

He feels his team’s finals duel with Purefoods, under interim coach Ryan Gregorio, will be the ultimate test for this team.

Cone faces the youthful Gregorio in the battle of brains. Gregorio, 30, is in his first finals — just like Cone was in 1990.

This time, Cone is the veteran and Gregorio, the neophyte. And the rivalry is a reprise of the 1990 matchup between Alaska and Purefoods.

In 1990, Cone was a coaching upstart who led Alaska to their first finals appearance against Purefoods. His adversary was the legendary maestro Virgilio (Baby) Dalupan. Cone was 32 and Dalupan, 66.

Experience prevailed over youth. The veteran beat the upstart as Purefoods clinched the third Conference title via a 3-2 squeaker in the best-of-five finals.

But today, Cone is 44 — no longer an upstart. Like Dalupan, Cone is almost legendary.

But this young Alaska squad should have their hands full in the finals. More than a tough Purefoods five, the Aces will also be battling the legacy established by the Alaska teams before them, to try and hopefully live up to it.

“It’s not a bad thing, really because it will be a challenge for us, it will give us something to shoot for. But that team of the nineties knew how to win. I didn’t even have to coach much because those guys knew what they had to do then went out and did it,” Cone said. “This team is just beginning to learn that.”

“I just hope our young guys won’t feel like this is the end of our journey,” said Cone. “This type of series is about character, of trying to overcome the obstacles. We’ll see if we can do that.”

Cone predicted an exciting series.

For one, the local matchups are interesting.

The college-style Purefoods squad is brimming with veterans in the likes of Alvin Patrimonio, Ronnie Magsanoc and Rey Evangelista with young turks Roger Yap and Kerby Raymundo providing the youthful athleticism.

The disciplined Alaska, on the other hand, has energetic young turks in Don Allado, Bryan Gahol and John Arigo with stability provided by veterans Jojo Lastimosa and Rodney Santos.

“There’s no pressure on either team,” he said. “Purefoods has exceeded all expectations by making it to the finals. Same as us. But we’ll scratch and claw every inch of the way, as we did in the eliminations to stay alive. That’s not going to change.”

Interestingly, Cone would probably like to think that a showdown with Purefoods could be the mother of all championship battles.

That’s because Purefoods represents the last stumbling block among the four franchises of San Miguel Corporation. Beating the Hotdogs would be tantamount to proving that the league isn’t a San Miguel dominated one. Alaska and Purefoods are two of the most successful teams in the last decade with a combined 14 titles between them, but have been largely overlooked while San Miguel hogged the limelight the past two years.

“I guess we’re now like the Lakers and the Celtics trying to live up to our team’s legacy,” said Cone. “But it’s not an entirely bad thing. At least, the accomplishments of the old Alaska team will give us a nice challenge, something to aspire for.”

Cone singled out Jojo Lastimosa as the player who could be the key to Alaska winning the championship.

“I’m really, really happy for Jojo. This will be his first finals appearance since 1998, and I am really proud of him,” said Cone who engineered Lastimosa’s return to the Alaska camp after a brief stint with Pop Cola. “He has contributed a lot to this team. If there’s one player who did so much for us, it’s Jojo. He provided the experience for this team.”

“Now he wants this one — he hasn’t been to the finals since he left us,” Cone said.

Interestingly, Patrimonio is going up against Alaska’s Jojo Lastimosa.

Both were considered the pillars of the Purefoods TJ Hotdogs when it joined the PBA in 1988.

In just three seasons, they were able to lead the Ayala franchise to their first ever PBA crown when the maestro, the legendary Dalupan, piloted an amazing 0-2 comeback in the best-of-five finals against Alaska, which was mentored by a youthful American coach named Tim Cone, and captured the 1990 third Conference title.

That was their first and last title together under one team.

Lastimosa moved to Alaska in 1991 and helped the team bag nine championships in the Uytengsu franchise including a rare grand slam stint in 1996.

Patrimonio, probably the most celebrated cager after Robert Jaworski, stayed with Purefoods and authored the team’s four titles, the last in the 1997 All-Filipino Cup.

Patrimonio and Lastimosa are stepping into the hardcourt as adversaries as they try to lead their respective teams to another crown and probably put the finishing touches to their already illustrious careers.

Purefoods is hoping to live up to their own legacy. The Hotdogs were among the league’s marquee teams in the last decade but has gone without a championship since winning the 1997 All-Filipino during Patrimonio’s peak years.

This year, the Hotdogs no longer rely heavily on Patrimonio and, instead, are composed of a bunch of role players backstopped by their imports.

Gregorio is more excited than nervous and said Alaska has the advantage in a long series but Purefoods the edge if it ends in four or five. That’s because the Tender Juicy Hot Dogs are relatively older, Gregorio explained.

“This (match against Alaska) will be all about fighting and playing with a big heart,” said Gregorio. “But we can match up against them man to man.”

Gregorio insisted his is the hungrier team.

“Alvin (Patrimonio) hasn’t won a title since 1997, Ronnie (Magsanoc) since 1992, and Derrick has never played on a championship team,” said Gregorio, who is subbing for Altamirano who had taken a leave of absence to focus on his job as assistant coach of the Philippine team to the Busan Asian Games.

Gregorio is now just four wins away from matching a feat achieved by four other coaches with the Purefoods ballclub.

For the records, Purefoods has a long history of winning a championship every time it is coached by a new coach. Baby Dalupan, Ely Capacio, Chot Reyes and Eric Altamirano all won a PBA trophy right in their first tournament with the Hotdogs.

Back in 1993, Reyes steered the Hotdogs, then known as Coney Island, to the championship of the All-Filipino Cup.

In 1997, Altamirano led the Hotdogs to the All-Filipino crown over Gordons Gin.

Gregorio insisted that the victory over San Miguel was a measure of the heart, the only glaring advantage he foresees against Alaska in the finals.

And that’s besides the fact that Gregorio, 30, is set to pit his coaching skills against a seasoned, multititled coach.

“What I like in our team is there’s always somebody stepping up to the challenge. I’ve told all the guys that they should be ready to play anytime. I respect Alaska’s championship tradition. They were given up for dead and now they’re in the finals. That says a lot about Tim’s team,” he said.

Gregorio, though, has no illusions of grandeur at this point.

“From hereon in, everything will be a learning process for me. I learned a lot from coach Chot in the Coke series, and I expect to learn a lot from coach Tim in the finals. But at the same time, I will never shrink from any challenge,” he said.