John Franklin Kennedy Caacbay

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PBA IMAGES10 (1)

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1766674071804PBA IMAGES10 (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Ginebra&#x27;s RJ Abarrientos in action. <em>PBA Images</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA – Barangay Ginebra guard RJ Abarrientos is not one to shy away from the big moments, draining crucial shots when his team needs him the most.</p><p>Abarrientos stepped up for the Gin Kingson Thursday in their quarterfinals clash against the Converge FiberXers, dropping a career-high 35 points, shooting six out of eight from downtown, along with four assists and two steals.</p><p>They kept their tournament bid alive with a 20-point triumph, 105-85.</p><p>During the postgame press conference, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone praised Abarrientos for his &quot;tremendous&quot; second half performance, where he scored 30 of his 35 markers.</p><p>But the winningest PBA mentor said he had to do some nudging to remind Abarrientos to take some shots.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/12/25/pba-rj-abarrientos-fires-career-high-35-as-ginebra-rallies-past-converge-2210"><strong>READ: PBA: RJ Abarrientos fires career-high 35 as Ginebra rallies past Converge to stay alive</strong></a></div><p>&quot;Well, he&#x27;s got that capability. We all know that. And we&#x27;ve seen it in the past. He can get going almost Steph Curry-like. He can just find an area that&#x27;s open on the floor and throw it up there. It&#x27;s going to go in. And he came up with it,&quot; Cone said.</p><p>&quot;I actually complained to him a little bit in the middle of the second quarter. Early in the second quarter, I told him he wasn&#x27;t looking for his shot enough. He was passing the ball, and I said he needed to look for his shot more. And so he came out second half and looked for it, and it went in,&quot; he added.</p><p>The younger Abarrientos heeded his coach&#x27;s request, finishing the game with 35 markers, including the dagger triple with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter.</p><p>&quot;First of all, I&#x27;m just playing the game and then just reading the game kung ano binibigay sa akin ng defense. And I remember the first quarter, Coach Tim went to me. He said, I&#x27;m not looking for my shot, and I&#x27;m not aggressive. So yun siguro tinatak ko sa utak ko,&quot; Abarrientos said.</p><p>&quot;So I keep reminding myself na hindi pwedeng hindi ako gumalaw. Or hindi pwedeng hindi ako makapag-contribute sa team. Kasi kami-kami lang ang inaasahan dito. So I&#x27;m very happy and thankful to some of our coaches. Just to keep reminding kami para maglaro ng ayos,&quot; he added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/12/25/pba-san-miguel-putting-10-straight-wins-in-the-past-as-they-gear-up-for-semis-2109"><strong>READ: PBA: San Miguel putting 10 straight wins in the past as they gear up for semis</strong></a></div><p>Cone said the situation with RJ was similar to what he experienced with PBA legend Johnny Abarrientos, the uncle of the young Ginebra guard.</p><p>&quot;I had the same problem with him oftentimes that I do with his uncle, Johnny, in the past. They want to be point guards. They want to be pure point guards. And both of them are really capable scorers, and they kind of forget that part of the game sometimes,&quot; he explained.</p><p>&quot;So they need to be reminded, take a few shots. But his DNA is to be a point guard and set people up. But he&#x27;s got a lot more ability than just your normal point guard,&quot; Cone said.</p><p>While he dropped 35 points, it was a different story for Juan Gomez de Liaño who was limited to only nine markers.</p><p>Abarrientos said it wasn&#x27;t in his mindset to get back at Gomez de Liaño who scored a career-high 32 points in their previous meeting.</p><p>&quot;Sabi nga ni Coach Tim lahat sila capable to score. Hanggang siguro sa second or third stringer nila. They have deep players and great individual skills,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;Hindi namin tinitingnan kung linilimit namin si Juan, linimit namin si Balti. We’re not looking for that, we&#x27;re just limiting them para hindi makapag-contribute... We just sticked to the system and siguro naging greedy kami kaya nakuha namin panalo,&quot; Abarrientos.</p><p>With the win over Converge, Ginebra kept its semifinals hopes alive, but they will be bracing for a tougher battle in their do-or-die match against the FiberXers.</p><p>&quot;Every game is different. I think that&#x27;s one of the things we really try to emphasize. It&#x27;s not going to be the same. We know that, you know, they&#x27;re really well coached. They got some really, you know, good minds over there,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;You know they&#x27;re going to come up and I think their young guys are really going to try to come back and really push hard... It ain&#x27;t going to be like this tonight. And we&#x27;re going to have to find a, figure out a way to continue to defend them,&quot; Cone explained. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dhci_nO6uo0?autoplay=1&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>"Well, he's got that capability. We all know that. And we've seen it in the past. He can get going almost Steph Curry-like," said Tim Cone on RJ Abarrientos. #PBA #PBA50 </p>

"Well, he's got that capability. We all know that. And we've seen it in the past. He can get going almost Steph Curry-like," said Tim Cone on RJ Abarrientos. #PBA #PBA50

PBA: RJ Abarrientos heeds coach Tim Cone's call to shoot more

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PBA: RJ Abarrientos heeds coach Tim Cone's call to shoot more

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 25, 2025 10:59 PM PHT

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Updated December 25, 2025 11:28 PM PHT

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RJ Abarrientos

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Coach Tim Cone

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