DESPITE his late-game heroics, RJ Abarrientos feels he needs to play better moving forward in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
Abarrientos topscored for Barangay Ginebra with 24 points including two clutch four-point shots in Game One that ended in a 102-100 victory over TNT clinched by a Justin Brownlee fadeaway basket with 0.6 seconds left.
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“The third and fourth quarters, wala kaming ginawa talaga. Not sustainable ‘yung ginawa namin in the fourth quarter,” said Abarrientos.
“‘Yung two four shots ko, that’s not sustainable. We need to be better on this one as a team and we need to be better as an individual player,” Abarrientos added.
Abarrientos cited the instances where he went under a screen and left Rey Nambatac free for a four that evened the count at 88. Nambatac also nailed a three to give TNT the lead for the first time in a long while after trailing, 64-46, early in the third.
“Nagalit si Coach Tim [Cone] sa akin. (He was) pissed off. ‘Yung depensa ko last two straight against Nambatac, kumbaga sa finals, hindi puwede mangyari ‘yun. I need to be better than that kasi lahat kami dito professional, lahat kami nagtatrabaho,” said Abarrientos.
Abarrientos made up for his mistakes on the defensive end in the fourth quarter with those clutch shots on their way to the victory, but he was in no mood to celebrate.
“We need to watch the film and get ready for Game 2. Move on na,” he added.
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