Calvin Abueva showed once again that he doesn’t need to score to help Alaska win.
Though he only had nine points, all of which came in the first half, the energetic forward focused on doing the dirty work in the final two frames, setting up his teammates and making crucial stops as the Aces pulled off a pulsating 81-79 victory over Meralco on Wednesday.
“In the second half, my mindset was to focus on my defense and passing,” he said, as he also hauled down seven rebounds and five assists in the win.
Providing those numbers isn’t as easy as Abueva makes it look, more so that the Aces are missing big men Sonny Thoss and Nonoy Baclao due to injuries, leaving the responsibility to Abueva, Vic Manuel, and other forwards to man the paint.
But the Kapampangan dynamo isn’t one to offer excuses, focusing on what he can do rather than dwell on deficiencies.
It’s really hard because we’re just average in height, but our speed is there. If their big man goes to the post, we need double him. Our aggressiveness really comes out when it comes to our rotation.”
True to the Aces’ “We Not Me” mantra, Abueva said that the whole team did their part to bring home the come-from-behind win as Alaska roared back from a nine-point hole with less than four minutes left in the game.
“It’s not just me who worked, but it’s all of us. In my own little way, I helped my teammates improve and that’s why our rotation was better in the last seconds. We were down seven in the crucial stretch in the final two minutes but luckily our point guards made their shots.”
RJ Jazul, JVee Casio, and Chris Banchero drained clutch treys to complete the comeback, with the final one putting them ahead with four seconds left on the clock.
But Abueva believes that Alaska shouldn’t be content with the two-game streak that puts them at 2-2 with tough games ahead to wrap up this year.
“We shouldn’t be contented with these two wins. We need to improve more in our coming games. We have big games against Ginebra and TNT this year, so we really have to prepare for them while we’re still in this year because we don’t know what lies ahead in 2017.”