Slowly but surely, Japeth Aguilar is rediscovering his old, fiery form and Barangay Ginebra is quick to reap the fruits as it shares the top spot in the PBA Philippine Cup.
With the 6-foot-9 veteran finally recovered from a left calf injury, the Gin Kings notched two big wins last week for a 4-1 record and a share of the No. 1 spot with San Miguel Beer.
Aguilar imposed his will in Ginebra’s comeback win against NLEX (83-75), then pulled off a gritty 75-72 triumph over the Beermen behind his double-double average of 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.
He also shot 54 percent from the field and submitted 2.5 blocks per game to clinch the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period June 22-26.
Aguilar scored 20 points on a stellar 9-of-13 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds, and had three blocks as Ginebra clawed back from 19 points down to beat NLEX.
In the Kings’ win over the Beermen, the son of former PBA player Peter Aguilar had 15 points, 14 boards, and two block shots.
Aguilar did his thing despite still taking extra precautions on a nagging calf injury that sidelined him for most of the playoffs during the season-ending Governors Cup.
The twin victories by the Kings also provided coach Tim Cone a fitting sendoff as he will miss out the team’s next four games to join the Miami Heat staff in the NBA Summer League.
Also nominated for the weekly plum being handed out by the men and women regularly covering the PBA beat were Aguilar’s teammates in Scottie Thompson and Christian Standhardinger, TNT’s Mikey Williams, RR Pogoy, Poy Erram, Magnolia’s Mark Barroca, Aris Dionisio and Jio Jalalon, and Blackwater’s Ato Ular, Yousef Taha and Jvee Casio.
