By REYNALD MAGALLON
A lot had happened in the highly entertaining PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup yet it all ended up in the same Finals matchup it had in its edition last season.
Exactly 448 days since the last season’s Commissioner’s Cup Finals press conference, TNT and Barangay Ginebra found themselves sharing the same stage once again — in fact the third time in the last five conferences — on Monday, June 1 at the Novotel Manila.
Same, same but different.
After exchanging pleasantries which seemingly had already become a routine for the two perennial contenders, focus turns on how exactly the new chapter to their rivalry will be different this time around.
“It’s all about determination or willingness kung sino yung gustong kunin ‘yung series na to,” said Barangay Ginebra playmaker RJ Abarrientos during the Finals Press Conference presented by ArenaPlus.
“It’s not about skills, it’s not about kung ano yung highlights mo sa court. It’s more on little things ngayon sa Finals,” added the Best Player of the Conference favorite.
“Different na Finals to, kasi hindi si RHJ yung import namin, but we have si C-Mac (Chris McCullough) na sobrang galing din. So, magandang-magandang Finals,” said TNT gunner RR Pogoy.
TNT will be without its resident import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who keyed its championship last season in the Commissioner’s Cup, due to an Achilles injury.
The Tropang 5G brought in an import of the same caliber as RHJ when it tapped 7-foot-3 Bol Bol but the towering center suffered the same fate as Hollis-Jefferson.
Chris McCullough came in the quarterfinals and while he is a proven winner at this level when he led San Miguel to Commissioner’s Cup title back in 2019, flashes of brilliance have only been seen from the now 31-year-old forward.
TNT, of course, still has the potent core in RR Pogoy, Jordan Heading, Calvin Oftana and Jayson Castro.
On the other hand, while Ginebra has pretty much the same faces with its core, the biggest story of this conference is the emergence of RJ Abarrientos as the team’s bonafide superstar.
Justin Brownlee, at 38-years-old, was on his usual dominant form but it is Abarrientos who should become the barometer for the Kings.
In their first three Finals meetings, Abarrientos was a target on the defense for TNT.
But his vast improvements, that even put him as the favorite to win the Best Player of the Conference, should offer a different challenge to the Tropang 5G when the curtain to the Finals formally raises on Wednesday, June 3 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
