RJ Abarrientos
IF there’s one piece Barangay Ginebra is missing in this PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals against TNT, it’s RJ Abarrientos’ offensive explosion.
Although the Kings tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1 with a gritty 71-70 win in Game 2, the rookie guard has yet to make his presence felt and contribute to the team’s cause.
The last draft’s no. 3 overall pick was held to a single point on 0-of-7 shooting from the field in Sunday’s game, which Ginebra won by the skin of its teeth.
The Kings have been missing Abarrientos’ scoring so much that coach Tim Cone believes the team could do even better in Game 3, set for Wednesday at the Philsports Arena, should the former Far Eastern University stalwart finally get into the groove.
“We need to get RJ untracked. I think that will be important for us to get RJ untracked offensively,” said Cone. “If we can do that, we could squeak out another game in Game 3.”
Abarrientos finished with 13 points in the series opener, which Ginebra lost, 95-89, but he struggled with his shots, going 3-of-10 from the field and -5 in the plus-minus metrics.
He was even worse in the next game, finishing with a -9 plus-minus.
Abarrientos actually made one unwarranted three-pointer in the final 1:20, and Ginebra was just trailing by 69-70. This got the ire of Cone, who quickly replaced the guard with Jamie Malonzo.
“I thought he took a bad shot at that time. He could have gotten to the basket a little better. He’ll learn from that, he’ll get better from it,” said the Ginebra coach.
“He’s a vet in terms of knowing the game, but he’s still a rookie in terms of knowing our game and how we play.”
But Cone pointed out that he had complete faith in Abarrientos, so he opted to have the rookie guard on the court in the stretch run of the tightly fought game.
“I had a lot of trust in him that I put him down there in the stretch, and I expect him to make decisions. He failed from that one and he’ll learn from it,” he said.