Tim Cone sings praises for calm and collected Abarrientos
At A Glance
- So it was not a surprise that even head coach Tim Cone left the outcome on his hands in dying seconds. And he delivered, making a great read on the Magnolia defense and issuing a kick out pass to wide open Scottie Thompson who drained a booming triple.
At one point, RJ Abarrientos nailed a booming triple, went back to defense, and forced a charge against Mark Barroca. He then fished for a foul against the same grizzled veteran, resulting in two important free throws.
In front of a huge crowd, when the lights are brighter, he hardly played like a rookie – more so someone playing on his first Manila Clasico matchup or his first Christmas Day game.
Abarrientos was calm and collected.
So it was not a surprise that even head coach Tim Cone left the outcome on his hands in dying seconds. And he delivered, making a great read on the Magnolia defense and issuing a kick-out pass to a wide open Scottie Thompson who drained a huge triple.
Ginebra won, 95-92 – in a true “Never-Say-Die’ fashion after erasing a 22-point deficit early on.
“RJ just kept making big shots after big shots and you can kinda feel it coming, you could feel the momentum shifting. I remember the Scotte shot but it was this guy who got the penetration and the kick and the pass to him so RJ is obviously truly deserving tonight,” Cone said of his prized rookie.
Of course, Ginebra wouldn’t be in the position to win it if not for Abarrientos who exploded for 17 of his 20 points in the second half to go with five assists and three steals.
But it was in the final sequence where Abarrientos’ maturity and poise were truly in full display.
“It was designated for RJ to make the decision. We wanted to get the ball into RJ’s hands and then put him in a pick and roll situation with Justin,” Cone recalled.
“We wanted to flare Justin out and we were spreading everybody out and we were hoping that RJ would get some penetration into the paint either throw back to Justin or find somebody open.”
“So we put the game in RJ’s hands and he delivered with a great pass to Scottie,” added the veteran coach.
For the 25-year-old rookie, it was just about powering through the team’s shooting struggles in the first half, especially with a huge 12,198 crowd hoping for a Christmas Day treat.
“I just need to step up for Ginebra and just like coach Tim said, first half talagang struggle kami not just Justin, Scottie talagang lahat kami, talagang nagstruggle kami but naencourage kami lahat naman gustong manalo ng Christmas, lahat gusto umuwi ng panalo.