MONSTER GAMES FROM THE BEAST
Has the Beast been unleashed?
It seems like that’s the case so far in the young season as Calvin Abueva has been making heads shake and eyes pop.
He had 21 points, four rebounds, and two assists in their first game out against Purefoods, and he topped it with a career-high setting double-double of 26 points and 22 rebounds, including the game-winning floater at the buzzer to clip Talk ‘N Text, keeping Alaska unblemished after two tries.
“Binigay lang sa akin ni Lord yun. Ginawa ko yung dapat kong gawin, kaya maganda yung kinalabasan nung huli,” Abueva said.
What’s more impressive is that Abueva suffered a bad fall early in the fourth quarter after a rebound play and many thought that he would go back to the lockers after that. But he rose and shook off the pain like nothing happened.
“Sabi ko, fight lang. Tsaka ko na iintindihin yung sakit, pag natapos na yung game,” said the mercurial third year forward.
And as he continued playing after that freak fall, Abueva did beastly things to help the Aces climb back from an 18-point hole and win the game.
“Di ko na naisip yung mangyayari. May momentum na ako eh, kaya ang sabi ko, bahala na kung pumasok. Deadlock naman, kung magmintis overtime at may second chance pa,” he said. “Eh pumasok. Binigay na ni Lord.”
With Alaska nailing wins against contenders, Abueva said that they don’t want to think that they are now the clear-cut favorites for the title.
“Di namin iniisip na malakas kami. Ang sabi lang namin, focus kami sa depensa lalo na yung mga pinapagawa ni coach, ginagawa lang namin ng tama,” he said.
It also helps Abueva that coach Alex Compton has gone out of the box and let his players loose with his unpredictable run-and-gun system, contrary to the staple triangle which has been run by the Aces for years now.
“Ang sistema namin, run na lang para lahat mabigyan ng kumpyansa. Yun ang ginagawa namin para lahat may chance pag may pagkakataon,” he said. “Mas pabor sa akin ‘to kaysa sa mga set. Kaya rin siguro gumaganda ang laro namin. Tumatakbo kami at di alam ng kalaban yung gagawin namin.” (RL)
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