Japeth Aguilar has made Ginebra proud anew with the way he’s accepted the challenge of being the team’s lead big man following the departure of Christian Standhardinger via trade a month prior to the new PBA season.
The minutes and, of course, the expectations have shot up for the 36-year-old after the veteran twin-tower combo got broken up, but Coach Tim Cone has been left impressed with how the one-time Finals MVP has been performing.
On Friday night alone, his star forward fired 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field, leading the Kings to a 110-101 victory over Phoenix to win in back-to-back fashion for the first time in the Season 49 Governors’ Cup.
“He had Greg with him when I first came to the team. Greg Slaughter was with him. Then Christian came. He was always like the Robin to the Batman,” Cone said shortly after the match at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“Now, he’s finally getting the opportunity to be the Batman, with Isaac [Go] as now kind of more like his Robin. He’s really taking advantage of it.”
According to PBA stats chief Fidel Mangonon III, Aguilar equalled his fourth career-best in scoring while also setting his seventh 30-point game.
Furthermore, it was his most points in a game since dropping 32 in the title-clinching Game 5 of the 2020 Philippine Cup Finals in the Clark bubble.
(C) PBA Images
After Friday’s big game, Aguilar upped his conference scoring average to 20.4 points, which is now the third best among locals behind NorthPort star Arvin Tolentino (23.2 points) and eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo (22.6 points).
“He’s putting up, dare I say, MVP numbers at this point through this first round. He’s been very, very consistent all the way through this first round,” Cone said.
“So he’s doing a great job of getting to his spots and we’re finding him and he’s taking advantage of mismatches on the floor. He’s been playing wonderfully.”
That’s why the champion mentor couldn’t be more excited moving forward with this kind of form that the 15-year vet has been displaying, which, without a doubt, serves as a huge boost for a team that’s still integrating the new faces.
“It’s a big adjustment for him because the minutes are going up, the touches are going up, the expectations for him defensively are also going up,” he said.
“It’s a big adjustment for him and he’s done a really good job doing it so far. I’m excited for him,” added the 25-time champion bench tactician.
But Aguilar, for his part, said that he’s simply sticking to whatever his role could be and he plans to do just that as the season progresses.
“I’m just trying to focus on my role. Always thinking about how I can get better,” he said. “For a couple of games, my defense was really not good. I was focusing more on the game plan on defense and, yeah, I’m happy we got this.”
