ANTIPOLO — It proved to be so short a stint with Titan Ultra, but Calvin Abueva does not harbor any ill feelings whatsoever toward the neophyte PBA franchise.
In fact, he remains friends with his ex-teammates to this day, which was evident when Converge faced the Giant Risers in Wednesday’s Commissioner’s Cup tiff.
“Oo, close naman talaga kahit one [conference] lang ‘yung napagsamahan,” he said shortly after their 103-82 victory to stop a five-game-losing skid at the Ynares Center here.
“Siyempre, ‘di naman iba rin ‘yung mga tropa roon.”
It’s no secret that Abueva and Titan Ultra had a falling-out of sorts after their maiden conference together that was the Season 50 Philippine Cup, with the ‘Beast’ himself expressing his discontent through his social media pages.
That led to his trade to the FiberXers last February, marking the end of his stay with the Pureblends-owned team where he actually enjoyed a career revival, as proven by a BPC candidacy in the season-opening tournament.
It’s been two months already since both camps opted to part ways, but they crossed paths anew on Wednesday when the two teams met in this city.
Still, there was a mutual respect between the present-day Giant Risers and the one-time champion, who towed the club to its first PBA win in this venue–a 100-96 decision against Meralco last October 8 where he dropped 41 big points.
But it was business as usual for them once the ball tipped off, and Abueva himself would go on to deliver 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting on top of five rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes off the bench–all without a turnover.
(C) PBA Images
“Business eh. Kapag trabaho, trabaho. Sa court tatrabahuhin mo. Pero sa labas, magkakaibigan,” said the 14-year vet out of San Sebastian.
“”Pag nakipag-away ka diyan sa court, may fine tayo kay Kume. Ayoko na,” he added in jest, drawing chuckles from members of the media in the presser.
It was indeed a far better showing as compared to his Converge debut in a loss to current leaders Rain or Shine last week, where he only had five points.
“Tinrabaho ko ‘yung three days na ‘yun, bago ‘tong game na ‘to. And ang resulta, mas um-OK, mas gumaan, at mas naging agresibo ako,” he said.
There was, however, no personal vendetta for Abueva in going up against his ex-team, with his focus set not just on himself but on building better chemistry with a FiberXers team that’s become rich in Kapampangan talent.
“Siyempre, manyaman, sabi nga sa Kapampangan,” he said. “Maganda ‘yung ginawa namin. ‘Yung mga Kapampangan, makikita niyo naman kami ‘yung nakapagpaangat dahil doon sa press namin na ginawa.
“‘Yung spiritual na paglalaro namin as five doon sa loob, kakaiba ‘yung experience namin. Kapampangan eh,” he added.
“Hindi lang naman kami, ang team talaga ang pagbabasehan ng lahat ng mga pinaghirapan naming panalo.”
Now, Abueva is just hoping that Wednesday’s triumph would be the start of something for the rest of Converge, as they’ve finally remembered how to win.
“Sabi nga ni Coach, baguhan pa ‘yung team, hindi pa naaayos ‘yung gusot. Hindi pa nalalabhan, at hindi pa napaplantsa,” he said.
“Sana itong second win, dito na kami magtuloy-tuloy,” Abueva added. “Naputol na ‘yung losing streak namin, sana naman ‘to, winning streak naman.”
