There’s no denying RJ Abarrientos was the story of Game 3 in Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s semis showdown against the San Miguel Beermen. The third overall pick of the 2024 PBA Draft exploded for 22 of his 24 points in the second half to lead Ginebra to a 100-90 victory over San Miguel and a 2-1 series lead.
Abarrientos’s explosion was timely, but for the first half at least, it didn’t look like it would even happen. In fact, the first 24 minutes of Game 3 was seemingly hinting of a repeat of the rookie’s Game 1 horror show, where he scored just 3 points on a ghastly 1-for-12 clip overall and 0-for-6 from downtown. In the first half of Game 3, the former FEU Tamaraw shot just 1-for-7 from the field and looked headed for another terrible showing.
He even got a scolding from Tim Cone after a botched rotation on defense.
Then, things started clicking in the third, with Abarrientos spearheading a 12-2 Ginebra run that helped the crowd darlings break free from a tight 57-56 contest and zoom ahead, 69-58, with two minutes left in the penultimate period.
In all, RJ Abarrientos was responsible for 8 of those 12 points, hitting a pair of jumpers and feeding Jamie Malonzo for two easy lay-ins on the break.
RJ Abarrientos Gets Encouragement and Delivers
Abarrientos continued his fine play in the fourth, firing 18 more points and hitting a mammoth four-pointer that gave Ginebra breathing room, 82-73, after the Beermen had come to within 78-73. He then strung together seven more points—two jumpers and a triple—down the stretch to put Game 3 on ice.
Post-game, RJ Abarrientos credited his coaches first and his teammates second for his spectacular showing.
“Nakatulong sa akin ‘yung pag-motivate ng mga coaches. Lahat sila sinasabi sa ‘kin, if I have the shot, take it, parang hindi nila ko pinipigilan…,” Abarrientos told reporters after the game. “‘Yung confidence hindi lang naman sa ‘kin e, galing sa teammates ko, galing sa coaches na laging nagre-remind sa akin, ‘Just do your thing,’ gawin mo lang ‘yung dapat mong gawin para makatulong sa team. Niyakap ko lang, in-embrace ko lang ‘yung ganung moment kaya siguro nakuha ko ‘yung game ko.”
Embrace the moment he did as he added 9 rebounds and 8 assists in a near triple-double that put Ginebra two wins away from another Finals stint.
Cone is not the least bit surprised, pointing out that his prized rookie is a great shooter to begin with.
“I just believe that he’s just a great shooter. We look at his passing, he’s an absolute fantastic passer and his ballhandling is great. He can attack people. But for me, what really makes him special is his ability to shoot the ball,” Cone said. “So, we always try to encourage him to shoot it. If he’s open, we want him to shoot it. If he’s 1-for-11, we want him taking that next tough shot right after that because we know it’s gonna turn around for him. We know anything that’s open for him, he’s gonna knock down more times than not.”
Well, RJ Abarrientos did go 1-for-12 in Game 1. But he kept on shooting. And those shots started falling.
