Abarrientos fuels Kings attack

RJ Abarrientos shrugged off the holiday revelry of being in a playoff advantage to carry Barangay Ginebra into the semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup.

While many still remember Stephen Holt’s buzzer-beating three that knocked off Converge in the quarterfinals, it was Abarrientos who was the most consistent man for the crowd favorites.

And with his average of 27.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals in the twin victories over the FiberXers, Abarrientos was adjudged as the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week.

“I reminded myself that I can’t afford not to move or contribute to the team because we’re banking on each other here,” Abarrientos said.

During the period of 25 to 29 December that earned him the weekly nod, the league sophomore made 57 percent of his shots highlighted by eight threes out of 14 attempts.

His barrage of triples in the second half allowed the Gin Kings to pull away and routed the FiberXers, 105-85, on Christmas Day to force a decider.

Abarrientos bucked first-half struggles to likewise connect on his outside shots plus a few more on the inside when the opportunity presented itself during the do-or-die thriller.

Of course, the quarterfinal decider ended on Holt’s three at the horn when the situation called for the Ginebra hero to be the next option after Abarrientos.

Holt wound up second in the voting among Press Corps members while San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo and Meralco’s Chris Newsome were also given consideration.