Since they last met in the 2023 Governors’ Cup Finals, both Barangay Ginebra and TNT Tropang Giga have added new pieces who are all making their finals debuts.
When the defending champions TNT Tropang Giga and people’s champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel open their best-of-seven PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup Finals series on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, familiar names from both sides are expected to play vital roles immediately.
Several key players were already around — while a handful are not — when both teams clashed in the finals of this conference two years ago, with the Tropang Giga prevailing in six games. On the TNT side, Season 47 Finals MVP Mikey Williams is no longer around, but old reliables like Jayson Castro, Calvin Oftana, Poy Erram, RR Pogoy and import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are still here.
For Barangay Ginebra, reliable center Christian Standhardinger and speedy guard Stanley Pringle have been traded away and versatile forward Jamie Malonzo is out with an injury. But they still have Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio and import Justin Brownlee.
Both teams, though, have new faces who have worked their way into the rotation and are all appearing in their first PBA finals. Any of them could prove to be the difference between a championship and a runner-up finish.
Here are four of them:
RJ Abarrientos (Barangay Ginebra San Miguel)
The only rookie from either side who is getting major minutes, the third overall pick in this year’s draft has quickly shown that he belongs with the big boys.
Abarrientos is Ginebra’s third-leading scorer behind Brownlee and Aguilar, averaging 13.8 points per game on 43% shooting in around 27 minutes. He’s mostly come off the bench for Tim Cone, providing an offensive spark and ably filling the scoring gap left by the departure of Pringle. He’s also shown that he isn’t afraid to hit the big shot in crunch time, and he’s actually been on the floor several times in the dying minutes of tight contests.
“For me, I’m just doing my thing,” Abarrientos said. “Ako yung rookie dito. Rookie duties nga, sinasabi ko palagi.
“Yung nagbibigay ng energy na type of player para sa team. Alam kong marami nang gunners dito. Marami nang best players sa team. So, for me, as a rookie, I just need to be balanced para makatulong sa team.”
Kim Aurin (TNT Tropang Giga)
Ironically, Aurin was a member of Barangay Ginebra’s 3×3 team before he took the leap to the main 5×5 competition in 2023. Although the Gin Kings picked him in the third round with the 34th overall pick, he failed to crack the lineup due to an injury. TNT quickly scooped him up, and he’s been with the team ever since.
Aurin has stepped up in his second year as a pro, averaging a shade under six points for the Tropang Giga in the Governors’ Cup in a part-time starter role that sees him play around 20 minutes per contest. Those numbers might not be earth-shattering, but he’s clearly done enough to earn the trust of Chot Reyes. Not an easy thing to do.
Stephen Holt (Barangay Ginebra San Miguel)
The top overall pick in last year’s draft, Holt initially had trouble blending into Tim Cone’s system after coming over in that offseason trade that sent Standhardinger and Pringle to the Terrafirma Dyip for him and Isaac Go. There were times that Holt was too deferential to the veterans, and he couldn’t get into a good offensive flow.
Those times are now gone, and Holt has flourished under Cone. He has started in all 19 Barangay Ginebra games in the Governors’ Cup, putting up numbers of 12.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.0 steal with a single-game high of 30 points. His versatility has given Cone the luxury of switching him and Thompson between both guard positions, with Abarrientos being the third option.
“It’s a tremendous experience,” Holt said. “So far, being my first season here with Ginebra, we got a great group of guys that work hard every single day.
“And to finally see the work and the results pay off, it’s a tremendous feeling. And like you said, it’s gonna be a great series. A lot of good matchups. And at the end of the day, we just gotta stick to our game plan.”
Rey Nambatac (TNT Tropang Giga)
After seven long years, the veteran guard Nambatac is finally playing in his first PBA finals. The Tropang Giga specifically targeted him in the offseason when it became clear that Mikey Williams wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
So far, he’s proven to be worth the investment. Nambatac may not be the explosive scorer that Williams was, but his numbers of 12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, plus the leadership intangibles he brings, are valuable for a veteran but aging team like the Tropang Giga.
Nambatac may not be 100% in the finals as he’s nursing a dislocated finger, but expect him to still leave everything on the floor as he guns for his first championship as a pro.
P.S. The PBA has announced that all proceeds from Game 1 will be donated to the Alagang Kapatid Foundation to assist the victims of Typhoon Kristine.
Banner Images from PBA Media Bureau.