Ginebra head coach Tim Cone felt proud to see Arvin Tolentino regain his touch in their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal opener versus NLEX, Wednesday evening.
The sophomore forward provided the spark off the bench and turned in his best game in a long while. He fired 11 points on a 3-of-5 clip from deep to help the Gin Kings beat the Road Warriors, 95-86, for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five tilt.
“He stepped up today and hit some shots.
“He’s been really struggling. I’m so happy for Arvin right now,” expressed the league’s only 23-time champion mentor shortly after the match at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
It was Tolentino’s first double-digit output since scoring 14 in a 102-110 defeat to San Miguel Beer last February 20 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
His struggles then came afterward, a somber stretch that saw him go scoreless twice in their last four games of the eliminations. And it didn’t help that he didn’t play in their quarters clash against TNT. He was a DNP in both games.
But when the opportunity came, the 2020 All-Rookie Team member out of Far Eastern University made sure to seize as much.
Against NLEX, Tolentino scored all of his points in the second half, eight of which he created in the third quarter. There, he nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give his side a 67-58 lead with 2:32 left.
Such a contribution came timely since Ginebra lost top forward Japeth Aguilar due to an apparent calf injury less than two minutes into the said period.
“Arvin, stepping up and hitting some shots today, that was huge for us,” said Cone of the Barangay’s 10th pick in 2019.
“That was absolutely huge.
“He doesn’t have to make every shot. I think that’s the pressure he feels, like, he has to make every shot. Nobody makes every shot. But if he can hit one or two through the course of his time on the floor, that’s huge for us,” he continued.
And definitely, Cone would want to see more of that in Game Two on Friday, while they aim to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the race-to-three series,
“We’ve been waiting for that, and it was nice to get it tonight. Hopefully, he can carry that over to Game Two,” he said.
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