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| Casio needs to take the big leap while Abueva struggles (photo courtesy of Sports5) |
Don't blame Calvin Abueva for the Alaska Aces' mildly surprising 4 wins, 9 losses slate in the on-going PBA Philippine Cup.
There's plenty of that to go around. Despite the impressive numbers shared by starters Sonny Thoss (16 points, 9 rebounds), JVee Casio (14, 3 and 3 assists), Cyrus Baguio (13, 3, 3), Gabby Espinas (11, 9) and Abueva (10, 8), the Aces are struggling more because they've become rather bland. Yes, the names on the roster are almost the same to when they punked their way into a PBA Commissioner's Cup title last season, but the fire and energy just isn't.
And while Abueva continues to find that balance between a flopper and token energy guy, the Aces need to come up with surprises to battle the strengthened/ overhauled PBA teams. Though we have nothing but love for the blue-chip recruits in ASEAN Basketball League Most Valuable Player Leo Avenido, Ryan Buenafe and Ping Exciminiano, it appears as though the three have yet to really learn the Aces' offensive sets as proven by the little amount of minutes they get on the floor (aging small forward Tony de la Cruz logs close to 19 minutes a game).
