RJ ABARRIENTOS and Scottie Thompson both producing huge games offensively on Friday is welcome news for Barangay Ginebra.
Over the Gin Kings' first four games in the 50th Season Commissioner's Cup, Abarrientos has been lighting it up with averages of 21.75 points per game. Thompson, though, was still groping for form in the same timeframe, averaging 5.3 points in three matches after missing their conference debut against Macau.
But on Friday, Abarrientos and Thompson finally put on an outstanding effort at the same time.
Thompson got back to his standards, with the former league MVP scoring a conference-high 24 points, while also contributing 10 points and three assists. Abarrientos, meantime, continued his stellar play offensively with 19 points.
Coach Tim Cone acknowledged Thompson and Abarrientos do not exactly play well when together on the floor, and this performance is a good step in finally doing so on a consistent basis.
“That’s really important,” he said on Thompson finally having a big scoring night alongside Abarrientos. “Right now, it's like (when) RJ is on the floor by himself, he plays really well. And then (when) Scottie is on the floor by himself, he plays really well.”
“But what we need them to do is to really figure each other out and learn to play together and still get their own stuff going despite the other guy being on the floor.”
The point of point guards
Cone said struggles between the two when together may have something to do with them being point guards.
“I think there's a little bit of confusion because they are both point guards and such. But I think that can improve as we go forward and I think that will come. They haven't had a lot of time playing together until this conference, really. So we are trying to get them to do that," he said.
“We've got to spend more time doing it in practice and getting them into a rhythm and practice, so that they can learn how to play off each other a little more because they're both fantastic. "
Thompson and Abarrientos actually teamed up for the game's winning play against Magnolia.
With the game tied at 89, Thompson issued a perfectly-delivered inbound to a cutting Abarrientos for what proved to be the game-winning layup over Zavier Lucero.
READ: Game-winning layup redeems RJ from costly foul on Barroca
Those plays are what Cone hopes to see more and more of from the two moving forward.
“They are kind of foils to each other in terms of they're not exactly the same type of player, so their skills should mesh. It's just a matter of time, I think, before we can get them to mesh,” he said.
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