RJ rules, Brownlee reigns

MANILA, Philippines — The PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup has witnessed RJ Abarrientos blossoming into an elite and clutch player.

And with strong performances game in and game out for Barangay Ginebra, Abarrientos was fittingly rewarded with the Best Player of the Conference award in the mid-season tournament.

Abarrientos, who scored high of 32 and a low of eight the entire tournament, beat the league’s top guns like Robert Bolick of NLEX and June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer for the top individual accolade.

The Season 49 Rookie of the Year amassed 1,147 points built around 462 from stats, 93 from players’ votes and 592 from media votes en route to his first BPC plum.

It was a twin kill for the Gin Kings as Justin Brownlee won Best Import honors for the fourth time since his league debut in 2016. Brownlee moved up to No. 2 in the all-time list of awardees, next only to the late Bobby Parks Sr., seven-time winner and for whom the accolade is named after.

This marked the first time players from the same squad were feted since Brownlee himself and Scottie Thompson were the recipients in the Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup.

Abarrientos’ presence in the finals gave him the edge against four other candidates, whose teams bombed out of the quarterfinal stage.

Bolick, the stats leader, finished second with 804 total points followed by 13-time recipient Fajardo (573), Phoenix’ Ricci Rivero (431) and SMB’s Jerrick Ahanmisi (421).

Abarrientos basked in glory 29 years after his celebrated uncle, current Ginebra assistant coach Johnny A, bagged the second of his two BPCs in the same conference.

Meanwhile, JB garnered 1,264 points (593 from stats, 560 from media and 111 from players) to beat Rain or Shine’s Jaylen Johnson (888), TNT’s Chris McCullough (690) and Meralco’s Partrick Gardner (534).

Brownlee added a fourth trophy in a conference that featured the likes of unicorn Bol Manute Bol of TNT. Bol’s stint however was cut short when he went down with an Achilles injury in Game 2 of the semifinals, eventually making him ineligible for the award for reinforcements.