THERE'S no beef between RJ Abarrientos and Archie Concepcion following the latter's flagrant foul on the former in the waning seconds of the Barangay Ginebra-Converge PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals game on Christmas Day.
Abarrientos, who delivered a career-game just in time for the holidays, laid on the Smart Araneta Coliseum floor writhing in pain after receiving an apparent hard elbow from Concepcion with 31 seconds remaining and the outcome of the game already in the bag for the Gin Kings.
READ: Ginebra gets Christmas wish granted for sudden death vs Converge
Concepcion was called for a flagrant foul penalty 1, leading to two free throws by Abarrientos for the last two of his new career-high 35 points.
While Abarrientos said the move was uncalled for, he nonetheless played down the incident.
“It’s just a mind game. OK lang na ginawa niya yun. Just move on. Wala naman para sa akin yun,” said last season’s Rookie of the Year following Ginebra's 105-85 win.
Abarrientos also stressed he won’t be motivated to play even better against the FiberXers the next time in the light of the physical play administered on him.
“My motivation is to win. Wala akong pakialam sa nangyari,” he said. “No need for extra (motivation).”
Abarrientos hit 6-of-8 from three-point range and was 12-of-18 from the field, as he scored 19 points in the fourth period in helping the Gin Kings take control of the contest to send the quarterfinals series to a do-or-die encounter.
Seventh-seeded Ginebra and No. 4 Converge duke it out one more time on Sunday for the right to face defending champion San Miguel in the semifinals.
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