CALVIN Abueva has been living up to his moniker The Beast with monster numbers in the 2016 Oppo-Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup.
Last week he won back-to-back PBA Player of the Week citations after leading Alaska to five consecutive victories.
Abueva hasn’t been dominant just the past two weeks, he’s been working hard the whole conference.
The imports of the 12 teams have been dominating the individual statistics this conference but fired up by the upgraded competition Abueva is in the top 10 in five statistical categories.
He is seventh in scoring (16.33 points), fourth in rebounds (8.67), eighth in steals (1.33) and blocks (0.83), and tenth in assists (3.5).
The last conference he played this well, he helped Alaska win the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown and then went on to win Rookie of the Year as well. This bodes well for Alaska fans who are hoping for another PBA title for their favorite team.
Thanks to Abueva’s efforts the Aces (5 wins, 2 losses) are now in second place in the standings behind only the surprising Meralco Bolts (6-2). Trailing them are the San Miguel Beermen (4-2), Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (3-2) and the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters (4-3).
The other teams include the Star Hotshots (4-4), the NLEX Road Warriors (3-4), Tropang TNT (3-4), the Mahindra Enforcers (3-4), the Blackwater Elite (3-5), the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (2-4) and the GlobalPort Batang Pier (2-6).
Abueva was at his best against Barangay Ginebra when he stood out at both ends of the court. He hounded Barangay Ginebra import Othyus Jeffers all game long limiting the high-scoring import’s production early on to help the Aces put up a big lead and then eventually hang on to post a scrambling 86-80 victory.
Abueva finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists to help the Alaska snap Ginebra’s three-game winning streak.
Three days later Abueva showcased his frightening will as he led the Aces past GlobalPort Batang Pier 103-101. Not even a sprained right ankle in the first half could slow him down as he finished with a career-high 29 points to go with 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocks to win Player of the Game Honors.
Abueva twisted his ankle as he charged after a loose ball and smashed into the sideline advertising billboards. He came back to will the Aces to victory past an equally determined GlobalPort crew.
Jonathan Uyloan drilled back-to-back triples as the Aces found themselves trailing, 83-87, with 7:33 to go in the game. Ping Exciminiano and RJ Jazul each drilled a three-pointer to go with a pair of free throws by Abueva to tie the count at 91-all with 5:06 left to play.
Abueva seemed to be everywhere at that point. He was defending, rebounding, dishing off or putting up the points as he scored on a hook shot and a pair of free throws to push Alaska ahead by three points, 97-94, with 3:07 remaining.
GlobalPort import Shawn Taggart countered with a jumpshot to cut the Alaska lead to one, 97-96, with 2:46 left to play.
The Aces missed on their next attempt but Abueva grabbed the offensive rebound and then as he went out of bounds, he dished off to Shane Edwards who was underneath the goal. The Alaska import scored from underneath the goal to push the Aces ahead by three points, 99-96, with 2:29 to go in the game.
GlobalPort could not score in their next possession. Chris Banchero then dribbled past Jeric Fortuna and drilled a jumper to virtually seal the outcome of the match, 101-96.
This is a conference that is supposed to be dominated by imports. But instead of taking a backseat Abueva is actually playing like an import. He’s obviously fired up by the bigger, athletic reinforcements and showing that a local homegrown talent can compete against the best from overseas.
Abueva hasn’t won a Best Player of the Conference award yet. The Alaska system distributes the minutes allocated to the players which means that no individual Alaska player gets enough minutes to jack up his individual statistics enough to win the award.
The welcome tradeoff is a better performance by the team overall.
Alaska seems to have settled into a pattern of winning a PBA title every three years. They won PBA titles during the 2000 All-Filipino, 2003 Invitational, 2007 Fiesta, 2010 Fiesta and 2013 Commissioner’s.
They are doing well and are among the leaders this conference. So again the question: can Calvin Abueva lead the Alaska Aces to their 15th PBA crown?
That’s a question that will be answered in a few weeks at the conclusion of the 2016 Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup.