He could be right, because the results are justifying his statement.

The Aces Friday night drew first blood in the best-of-seven series with San Miguel for the PBA Fiesta Conference championship after Diamon Simpson and LA Tenorio again stepped up in an 89-83 victory at the Araneta Coliseum.

“We are a playoff-hardened team,” Cone told reporters shortly after the win. “The guys just really reached deep. We leaned on the confidence we got against (Barangay) Ginebra (in the quarterfinals) and Talk ’N Text (in the Final Four).

“We’ve never really cracked and we’re getting better all the time,” he added. "This is not the Alaska team that played in the eliminations, that lost both games to San Miguel."

Simpson went on to finish with 28 points and 21 rebounds and Tenorio dropped 13 points — including two big triples in the endgame — that went with a night-high eight assists as the Aces, like they did in the quarterfinals and in the semis, reversed pre-series hype.

“We won Game 1 against Ginebra and Talk ‘N Text and we really didn’t want to give this one up,” Cone explained. “We had all the excuses in the world to give this one up. We’ve got a lot of basketball left in us and we’re ready to go.”

Alaska actually started out with a limp and trailed the Beermen by 11 points early in the first period.

But the Aces, who went the distance in both those series, summoned all their reserves in their 13th straight game since the start of the playoffs on July 9 and quickly overhauled that deficit to take a six-point lead into the second half.

It was nip and tuck from thereon and San Miguel actually had its last taste of the lead at 76-74 with 4:15 left after Gabriel Freeman, who won the Best Import award over Simpson, drove for an unmolested layup.

Alaska then tied it all up for the last time at 76 with a Joe Devance basket before Tenorio uncorked those triples that sandwiched a Tony dela Cruz jumper for a 10-0 run that had the Aces scampering to an 85-76 lead with 1:44 remaining.

And that was all that Alaska needed to make the Fat Lady sing and doom San Miguel to its first loss in three seasons against the Aces in this tournament.

The win also snapped Cone’s six-game losing streak in the Finals, dating back to the last two games of the Philippine Cup against Talk ‘N Text in 2009 and the sweep that the Aces suffered opposite Purefoods in this season’s Philippine Cup.

Freeman went on to lead San Miguel with 37 markers and 16 boards, while Jay Washington, who won the Player of the Conference award over Tenorio, chipped in with 16 and 13 rebounds.

But there was no other San Miguel player in twin digits as usual high scorers like Arwind Santos and Dondon Hontiveros were held to just seven and eight markers, respectively.

Devance had 14 points like Cyrus Baguio for Alaska, which played just nine men but had all but two of them scoring.

Meanwhile, Talk ‘N Text pocketed third place earlier, 113-95, against a Derby Ace side that did not field import Tony Washam.

Chot Reyes still showed his displeasure over the fate that his Tropang Texters suffered in the tournament, calling the victory a “useless” game and saying that their entire season “truly sucked big time.”

“As a coach, I am all about effort, and in the last two games of the (semifinal) series (against Alaska), they totally outworked us and that is why we are playing this useless game,” Reyes added.

“I am the first to admit that Tim Cone outcoached me in the series,” he continued. “It was my first Game 7 loss and it ranks as the most painful loss (for me) ever.”

Ryan Reyes and Kelly Williams were acquired from Sta. Lucia in a lopsided, mid-season trade, and their arrival certainly made the Texters the odds-on picks to bag the championship until they were ousted in seven games by Aslaka.

“The good thing about it is we have a pretty good core of players,” Reyes continued. “We rest, recharge, re-evaluate and hope that 2011 is a better season for all of us. For the lack of a better word, this year absolutely sucked big time for us.”