ENERGY, hustle, and toughness, qualities which Magnolia are looking for it decided to bring on board Calvin Abueva.
And so far, the Hotshots are reaping the fruits of their off-season gamble.
Abueva is living up to his moniker “The Beast” in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup playoffs, steering Magnolia to a sweep of Rain or Shine in its best-of-three quarterfinals series, and then taking over down the stretch in Game 1 of its semifinals matchup with Meralco despite nursing foul trouble to prevail, 88-79.
Abueva’s heroic made him the hands down choice as Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps’ Player of the Week for the period September 29 to October 3.
During that stretch, the 33-year-old forward averaged 16.5 points and 13.0 rebounds, while shooting 52 percent from the floor.
Abueva was a dominant force in the Hotshots’ 96-86 closeout win against the Elasto Painters in Game 2 of their series as he finished with 20 points and pulled down 19 rebounds.
Three days after, the leading candidate for the Best Player of the Conference award bucked foul trouble and engineered a 20-3 run going home as the Hotshots erased a six-point deficit to take an 83-72 lead with about three minutes left in their series opener against the Bolts. Abueva capped the telling run with a slam dunk as he scored seven of his total 13 output in the fourth quarter.
“Calvin adds toughness. The team’s system fits him right, that’s why he adjusted easily with the team,” said Coach Chito Victolero, who acquired Abueva in an off-season trade with Phoenix for guard Chris Banchero.
Besides Abueva, also considered for the weekly honor handed out by reporters regularly covering the PBA beat are Magnolia’s Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang and TnT Tropang Giga’s Roger Pogoy, Troy Rosario, and Jayson Castro.
COACH CHOT WARY OF SMB
DESPITE winning by a point, 89-88, over long-time rival San Miguel Beer last Sunday to take the semifinal opener, TNT Tropang Giga coach Chot Reyes remained wary of Game Two of their best-of-seven semifinals showdown especially with the absence of big man Kelly Williams.
“We are no match to San Miguel Beer’s depth, talent and experience. You have to be in your superhuman effort to take down this powerhouse team,” Reyes told BusinessMirror. “And maybe without Kelly for another week, we will have to find ways to compete.”
Williams, the 2007 Season Most Valuable Player, will be out because for days because of health and safety protocols.
Reyes and the Tropang Giga knew how tough and difficult facing the Beermen would be after losing to them, 67-83, in the eliminations last September 8.
But in the semifinals, TNT took a comfortable lead before San Miguel Beer made it a close game with Marcio Lassiter missing the winning shot.
TNT, armed with a twice-to-beat advantage as the No. 1 team with a 10-1 win-loss record, booted out No. 8 Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the quarterfinals, 84-71.
With Josef Ramos
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