Barangay Ginebra won three of the six games played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven finals against defending champion TNT.
In those victories, RJ Abarrientos stepped up to deliver clutch plays and significant contributions for the Kings.
Bad outings, however, just like in Game 6, doomed Ginebra, thus the need for a winner-take-all Game 7 Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The newly crowned Best Player of the Conference struggled last Sunday in what should’ve been the Kings’ close-out night to quench a three-year title drought.
Instead, Ginebra is back in the precarious series decider with the fear of a repeat of last year’s collapse in the same tournament.
Shooting a hellish 1-of-12 from the field for just six points, the sophomore guard cannot afford another dry outing.
In fact, all of the Kings’ locals must get their offense back to ease the scoring pressure on four-time Best Import Justin Brownlee, who in the last two games averaged 53 points.
“That should not happen again. We can’t afford for the locals, including me, having another bad night,” the Season 49 Rookie of the Year said.
Abarrientos had over 40 minutes of playing time in Game 6.
But he had a hard time finding his range after sinking just one of his seven attempts at close range.
He was zilch in three tries from the three-point area and bricked all two of his four-pointers.
Abarrientos sank all of his four free throws with five assists, three rebounds and two steals, but his quiet scoring night kept Ginebra wanting.
TNT has figured out a way to make Abarrientos earn his points, throwing much taller defenders on him in Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Kelly Williams as well as veteran guards Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy.
“What’s important for us right now is to work on our adjustments in Game 7,” he said.
