MANILA: Tim Cone doesn’t usually brag, but he has a pretty good reason for saying this one.

“We seem to be ready this conference,” Cone said after Purefoods tore Alaska to shreds, 108-88, to claim a piece of the early elimination round lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Tuesday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

“I haven’t said something like that in a long, long while,” Cone added.

Marqus Blakely, standing in for the second straight game, was the same dominant force for the Star Hotshots, shooting 17 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out seven assists in a brilliant all-around effort that his replacement, Daniel Orton, saw watching from ringside.

Orton flew in from China and immediately watched his future team play at its best, but Cone said that suiting up for the defending champions won’t be a ‘slam dunk’ at the moment.

“He has to show us how he gets our (team) orientation on offense and defense,” Cone said as Orton, a National Basketball Association veteran who is actually Cone’s second choice behind Denzel Bowles, starts practicing with the squad on Wednesday.

The Hotshots held a 27-14 lead at the end of the first; were 57-35 up at the half and were never headed from there, zooming in front by as large as 26 points on the way to winning for the second straight time.

Purefoods thus tied Meralco, Talk ‘N Text and Barako Bull for the early pace, with the Tropang Texters and the Bolts shooting for the solo lead Wednesday also at the Big Dome.

San Miguel Beer, which won the Philippine Cup in a classic seven-game series against Alaska less than two weeks ago, makes its much-awaited debut also Wednesday against newcomer KIA Motors and 7-foot-4 man-mountain PJ Ramos.

Alaska missed the services of All-Stars Sonny Thoss and JV Casio and was flat practically the whole night.

“They (Aces) had very little practice time, and the turnaround time (from the last conference) for them was very quick,” Cone said in assessing why Alaska, his former team, played so bad.

“It was our experience in the last conference (after winning the Grand Slam last season).”

Alex Mallari also scored 17 points like James Yap and Blakely, with Marc Pingris and Allein Maliksi shooting 12 and 11, respectively.

DJ Covington, the former Big East Defensive Player of the Year, was a disappointment for the Aces, finishing with 19 points and just five rebounds in being outplayed thoroughly by Blakely underneath.

Chris Banchero shot 16 and Calvin Abueva 12 for the Aces, who started 6-0 on the way to making the Philippine Cup Finals.

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine, with its coaches wearing black arms bands and its players patches paying tribute to the 44 fallen policemen, survived NLEX and Al Thornton in the first game, 96-91, for its first win.

Paul Lee scored the last six points for the Elasto Painters, practically bailing them out in the stretch after Rain or Shine lost a commanding lead to trail, 82-84, heading into the final three minutes.

Lee, the former Rookie of the Year, finished with 25 points with import Rick Jackson firing 17 that went with 20 rebounds, 13 of them off the offensive glass.

Thornton, the NBA vet who earned All-Rookie Team inclusion together with superstar Kevin Durant in 2007, played less than the player that he once was.

But he scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half and helped the Road Warriors in pushing the Painters to the limit.

Thornton also had 12 rebounds.

“This is not a sign of protest, it’s just our way of paying tribute to the families of those 44 who perished in that unfortunate incident,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.