Calvin Abueva rises for a basket against San Miguel’s Rodney Brondial. —PBA IMAGES
Calvin Abueva vowed to not let the exhibition nature of the PBA on Tour distract his bid to return at full strength as quickly as possible.
“I’m still at around 70 percent, and I still have to work my way back to fill the remaining 30 percent. But it doesn’t mean that I won’t do anything in my power to make sure I get my form back this preseason,” Abueva said after his debut in the series resulted in a near double-double and another win for unbeaten Magnolia.
A long respite after dealing with a knee problem didn’t prevent Abueva from netting nine points and 16 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass, to lift the Hotshots past the depleted San Miguel Beermen, 94-65, at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
At 8-0, Magnolia is within three games of pulling off a sweep of the series of games used to prepare teams for the season-opener in mid-October.
Magnolia’s remaining matches are against Rain or Shine (July 15), Phoenix (July 23) and Terrafirma (July 26).
Coach Chito Victolero and his staff are making sure that Abueva slowly reintegrates his way back to the team, which has kept a perfect record with mostly the second unit playing an increased role while reducing the minutes of the other main figures like Paul Lee and Jio Jalalon.
James Laput once again showed why his confidence has increased due to the On Tour setup, taking advantage of a San Miguel side reduced to just nine men for various reasons and putting up 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Victolero used Abueva for 19 minutes against San Miguel, giving him five-minute stretches. That could increase for the remainder of the series.
“His timing is not there yet, but he did well [against San Miguel],” said Victolero. “There was a bit of eagerness from him because it’s his first game, but that’s the Calvin Abueva that we always know.”
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