By JEREMIAH SEVILLA
SMART CLARK GIGA CITY– Calvin Abueva emerged as the unanimous Cignal TV-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week as he unleashed his fiery form when Phoenix needed it most in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
With main man Matthew Wright seeing limited action due to a sprained right ankle, Abueva took charge for the Fuel Masters to secure a 2-1 series lead against the TNT Tropang Giga and inch closer to their first-ever finals appearance.
After a 95-92 loss in Game 1 where Wright went down early, the 32-year-old banger drilled in a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds to go with four assists and two steals in a 110-103 victory in Game 2.
The pride of Angeles City, Pampanga then pumped in 24 points, 14 boards, six dimes and four steals to complement Wright’s 25-point bounce-back effort in a 92-89 win in Game 3.
In those two triumphs, “The Beast” tallied 22.0 points on a 55-percent shooting clip including an impressive 63-percent from beyond the arc on top of 14.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals.
It was a huge rebound performance for Abueva who settled for 13 points and nine boards after getting saddled with early foul trouble in the series opener.
“Basta ako step up lang. Binibigay ko lahat ng energy at effort ko. ‘Pag nandyan ‘yung effort, kaya mo ibigay lahat para sa team,” said Abueva, who has been going all-out since his comeback from a 16-month suspension.
Meanwhile, Ginebra’s Arvin Tolentino was hailed as Rookie of the Week by the members of the media covering the PBA beat for the period of November 16 to 22.
Tolentino tallied 8.7 points built on a 43-percent three-point shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists to help the Kings grab a 2-1 lead over the Meralco Bolts in the other semifinal pairing.
