MANILA: Right after the final buzzer sounded, in the din of the celebration, Tim Cone found ways to tell his San Mig Coffee Mixers something that they would remember for the rest of their lives.

“I told them that this is the best time of your lives, that they should enjoy this,” Cone, soaked in championship bubbly Wednesday night, told reporters. “This is a special moment for all of us.”

That special moment was the Grand Slam that the Mixers completed following a 92-89 win over Rain or Shine in their winner-take-all match for the PBA Governors’ Cup, and that special moment had come into Cone’s life twice now — the only coach to ever do so in the league.

“I am going to go home, sit in a quiet room and let this thing sink in, because honestly, I didn’t think it (Grand Slam) was possible at this day and age,” said the outspoken American, who won his first Triple Crown while with Alaska in 1998 — the last time the feat was pulled out.

“This is just a true blessing.”

Cone won his 18th championship overall, the sixth with the Mixers, who won the 13th title for the franchise to tie defunct Crispa for the fourth most all-time.

And this one came a tad harder than the one he had 18 years ago while handling Alaska, which Cone described as so dominant that year that they knew they were already going to win it when they made the Third Conference Finals against Ginebra San Miguel and Robert Jaworski.

“We got out to a 3-0 lead (in the best-of-seven title series with the Gin Kings) and that was basically it,” Cone said. “We were very dominant that year.

“But this time, it had to go down to the final two seconds,” continued Cone. “Rain or Shine just kept coming at us and coming at us until the very end. Right to the last shot. They really didn’t crack.”

There was also a touching scene just after the final buzzer sounded – after Arizona Reid missed a triple try short to fail to take the game to overtime — when Cone ran to the opposite end of the floor to give Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao a very warm embrace.

It was such a show of class rarely seen after a game that staked so much. But Cone made it sure that he would be able to do it.

“I just had so much appreciation for what he did (for his team in) this series,” Cone said. “I just wanted to make sure that coach Yeng would know how I appreciate how good a coach he is.”

San Mig won a fourth straight title in front of more than 23,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum, and with the core of the team led by former two-time MVP James Yap still in their prime and with Marqus Blakely getting better by the year, the Mixers certainly look to be scary for the coming season.

And Cone doesn’t want to break the team up — right down to his reserve players — something which cannot happen because of the dispersal draft coming up for two new expansion ballclubs.

“That’s going to be painful for me, although some of my players (who are in the reserved list) can go to teams where they can find some playing time.”

Yap, PJ Simon, Marc Pingris, Mark Barroca and all the other stars on the team will certainly be staying, and Cone always has an eye for good imports.

And with three months to rest before the next season opens, Cone certainly had the Grand Slam feeling sink in in one of his quiet rooms in the house.

The scary thing is, with all that time to think on what to do for the next season, Cone can definitely come up with an encore.