Calvin Abueva (22) participates during practice as Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin looks on. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
TAIPEI — When in the PBA, Calvin Abueva couldn’t care less whether the fans like him or not. The jeers, he said, make him a lot better player.
But playing as one of the crowd-darlings of the Gilas Pilipinas squad in the 2015 Jones Cup here, Abueva is relishing the moment, and the love that mostly Overseas Filipino Workers are giving him, he swears, is making him smarter.
READ: Abueva shows worth with Gilas, proves Baldwin wrong
“Oo, mas nakakataba ng utak yun,” Abueva said after Wednesday morning practice where the Nationals perfected three new offensive sets for their 3 p.m. match with the Japanese national team at Xinchuang gymnasium here.
“I can focus more on the game and I can follow coach (Tab Baldwin’s) instructions better,” he went on in Filipino. “If you are not up to it (coach’s game plan), it would be a disservice to our OFW fans.
“It would be an even bigger responsibility for us in the Fiba-Asia (in China),” Abueva said. “We (Gilas) would need to play a lot better for them there.”
READ: Gilas’ Abueva relishing first ever national team stint
Abueva is seeing action as a national player in a full tournament for the first time and is basking in the limelight.
He has been the energizer of Gilas, and it could be the biggest asset of his game that would ultimately land him a spot in the Final 12 for China.
“I’ve been scouting all the teams here and there is not one player (in the field) that is like Calvin. Absolutely no one,” assistant Gilas coach Alex Compton said.