FILE – Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Calvin Abueva introduced himself to Gilas Pilipinas’ new recruit Christian Standhardinger on Saturday when Alaska played Gilas Pilipinas in a tune-up but there was no handshake nor a pleasant greeting.
There was, however, a lot of hitting, shoving and trash talking.
“I just wanted to introduce myself to him,” said Abueva in Filipino with a huge grin.
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Abueva and Standhardinger got into it during an inbound play late where the Fil-German big man kept sticking his arm on the waist of the Aces forward, who responded by repeatedly swatting his arm away.
The referees stood in between the two, who went on to jaw at each other. The verbal war continued until the final buzzer where Abueva extended an elbow out as he walked by Standhardinger, who couldn’t help but laugh.
The wily Abueva said he was just preparing Standhardinger for instances like this where an opposing player would try to get under his skin.
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“He’s just new with Gilas and the longer he stays, the more he gets to be in situations where someone is going to play mind games with him and I just want him to get used to these kinds of situations.”
After the game, Standhardinger brushed the dustup aside and said what happened was all part of a closely-contested game.
“It was nothing. It was a close game, so emotions were running high. I like his intensity and I will shoot back with my intensity, and in the end, we won, so that’s good,” said the 28-year-old Standhardinger.
National team coach Chot Reyes wasn’t surprised with how Standhardinger stood his own against Abueva.
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“It’s nothing to Standhardinger. That guy is tough, he’s not gonna back off of anyone so that’s what we like about him,” Reyes said.
Standhardinger said he is fully aware that Abueva is a national team mainstay. He also had his own script of their word war.
“I have much respect for that, but in the game, I don’t care,” he said.
“He asked my how my day is going and I asked him how his day is going. Then he asked he how my family, and I said my mother is fine. He told me his grandma is feeling great, so that was what we talked about,” said Standhardinger with a smile.
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Being his usual self, Abueva said he has nothing personal with Standhardinger.
“I was just testing him. It’s nothing personal because we’re going to be Gilas teammates eventually,” Abueva said.
“He’s okay. There were just some instances where his emotions got the better of him but he still manages to keep his focus on the game.”