<\/p>\n
You may finally call RJ Abarrientos a champion. \u2014PBA IMAGES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Until Barangay Ginebra\u2019s title conquest within the PBA Commissioner\u2019s Cup, rising star RJ Abarrientos had been there, but not quite done that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere,\u201d being almost in all places. \u201cThat,\u201d being winning a championship.<\/p>\n
All that modified on Wednesday night when Abarrientos finally shook off the monkey on his back and helped the Gin Kings beat TNT to finish a three-year drought.<\/p>\n
Abarrientos\u2019 basketball journey, each in college and within the skilled ranks overseas, has hardly been smooth. He can be the primary to confess it.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for him, he has all the time had the support system he needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery league was hard. Every league had challenges for me,\u201d Abarrientos told the Inquirer after Ginebra\u2019s Game 7 victory over TNT on the Mall of Asia Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you win or lose, there are all the time individuals who doubt you mentally and physically on the court. But when you have got teammates who trust you, there\u2019s no reason to offer up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The journey began under the brilliant lights of the UAAP.<\/p>\n
As a one-and-done guard for FEU, Abarrientos generated loads of buzz through the pandemic era but never tasted team success.<\/p>\n
He then took his talents to the Korean Basketball League, signing with Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus.<\/p>\n
While he captured Rookie of the Yr honors, a championship remained out of reach.<\/p>\n
Next got here a move to Japan\u2019s B.League, where he suited up for the Shinshu Brave Warriors. Once more, the title he sought proved elusive.<\/p>\n
When Abarrientos returned home and entered the 2024 PBA Draft, Ginebra chosen him third overall.<\/p>\n
The frustrations followed him at first.<\/p>\n
He endured back-to-back Finals losses to TNT in Season 49, but through all of it, he leaned on a support system that included the winningest coach in PBA history and his legendary uncle, Johnny Abarrientos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just thankful for my coaches and my Tito. Those are an important people for me,\u201d he said. \u201cMy ears are all the time open and I\u2019m all the time willing to listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still removed from my goal, but I\u2019m thankful because I\u2019m surrounded by winning coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abarrientos\u2019 breakthrough conference became much more memorable when he was named Best Player of the Conference.<\/p>\n
He selected to not have a good time then.<\/p>\n
Now, he finally can.<\/p>\n
After falling short within the UAAP, the KBL and the B.League, Abarrientos finally achieved what had long eluded him\u2014a championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said before that individual awards aren\u2019t value celebrating,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this time, it\u2019s time to have a good time.\u201d INQ<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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You may finally call RJ Abarrientos a champion. \u2014PBA IMAGES Until Barangay Ginebra\u2019s title conquest within the PBA Commissioner\u2019s Cup, rising star RJ Abarrientos had been there, but not quite done that. \u201cThere,\u201d being almost in all places. \u201cThat,\u201d being winning a championship. Article continues after this commercial All that modified on Wednesday night when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[24464,53054,582,6348,2413,28061],"class_list":["post-354127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-abarrientos","tag-eluded","tag-finally","tag-goal","tag-long","tag-nails"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354127"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354130,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354127\/revisions\/354130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}