NorthPort Batang Pier star Arvin Tolentino. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
Arvin Tolentino will likely be a marked man within the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals between the NorthPort aspect that he become a contender and his ex-team, the crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra squad that traded him to the Batang Pier within the first place.
And there are two causes for that: Heading into the best-of-seven affair which begins later this month because the front-runner for the Finest Participant of the Convention (BPC) and having received two championships whereas with the Gin Kings from his rookie yr in 2020 till 2022.
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“Thrilling!” Tolentino stated with a large grin after the Batang Pier had simply crushed the Magnolia Hotshots within the quarterfinals.
That win put NorthPort on monitor for a primary franchise title, but it surely must undergo Ginebra, which ultimately noticed off Meralco final Sunday.
NorthPort is within the semis for simply the third time in franchise historical past, and is hungry to show a special web page on the expense of Ginebra—which isn’t any stranger to being at this level of the playoff stage.
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Tolentino was one of many causes for the Batang Pier’s rise. By the quarterfinals, he’s averaged 23.2 factors, 7.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks in 13 video games, numbers that might again up his case to win the BPC for the primary time.
“It’s an enormous bonus for me, if I win that,” he stated. “However I’m actually centered on profitable extra and attending to the Finals.”
To attain that, they might want to move a serious take a look at within the Gin Kings, the workforce that drafted Tolentino within the first spherical of the 2020 Rookie Draft out of Far Japanese College.
Two titles
Whilst a rookie, Tolentino proved to be a dependable contributor to a stacked Ginebra roster, particularly in the course of the run to the championship of the 2020 Philippine Cup, the lone convention of that yr’s pandemic-shortened forty fifth season.
He added one other ring within the 2021-2022 Governors’ Cup earlier than getting dealt to NorthPort earlier than the 2022-2023 Commissioner’s Cup to ensure that Ginebra to finish the acquisition of the athletic Jamie Malonzo.
“Arvin’s my boy. I instructed him that,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone stated. “I instructed him when he was traded that this is a chance for him to exit and unfold his wings, strut his recreation. And we had a number of conversations about him being an area Justin [Brownlee].”
“However he was extra confined with our workforce as a result of there have been so many good gamers round him when he was nonetheless younger. However now he’s been in a position to go to NorthPort, set up himself. So, kudos to him. I’m actually pleased with him for what he’s in a position to obtain.
“And do I remorse [not having him anymore]? I definitely do. I definitely do remorse. However I believe it was the perfect factor that ever occurred to him in his profession.”
And as a lot as Ginebra will at all times have a particular place in his coronary heart, Tolentino can be eager on the dream he desires for himself and NorthPort.
“It’s at all times enjoyable and thrilling each time I play in opposition to Ginebra, particularly with the friendships that we’ve constructed throughout my time there,” he stated.
“It’s going to be an thrilling sequence, however we’re nonetheless centered on that aim to take the following step which is to get into the Finals.
