THIS year's top PBA rookie pick Justine Baltazar can't help but thank the Converge coaching staff for being patient with him despite the adjustments and struggles he had been going through in his first four games in the league.<\/p>\r\r
The former La Salle Green Archer is coming off a successful back-to-back championship campaigns with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League but struggled to get his offense going in the PBA.<\/p>\r\r
In fact, the 6-foot-8 big man averaged just 5.25 points, on a 33 percent shooting (9-of-27) during his first four games for the FiberXers.<\/p>\r\r But if there's one bright spot, Converge coach Franco Atienza and his coaching staff has been giving the rookie big man the needed playing time to get acclimated in the PBA.<\/p>\r\r Baltazar, however, is averaging 8.75 rebounds in over 20 minutes of action for the FiberXers.<\/p>\r\r \"I'm playing more games with my team and then in practice, and I know it's been how many games that I've played bad,\" Baltazar told sportswriters in Filipino, shortly after Converge chalked up is fourth straight win via a 110-94 rout of Meralco on Christmas Day.<\/p>\r\r Baltazar had his best scoring night in his young PBA career for Converge, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds and issuing four assists in over 30 minutes of action.<\/p>\r\r The former Gilas Pilipinas big man credits the little things he gets from the coaching staff, including Converge assistant coach Danny Ildefonso, for taking him under his wings.<\/p>\r\r \"The things coach Danny teaches me really huge and I really thank him for that,\" he said.<\/p>\r\r \"He's been telling me to just trust the coaches. And I really get to play in the game so for me, I just need to work hard for it through training, work on my shooting and my post game so I can apply it.\"<\/p>\r\r The FiberXers have been humming well after winning their last four games, a stretch that included a come-from-behind win over Barangay Ginebra Kings last Saturday in Batangas City.<\/p>\r\r Converge, at 6-2, is currently tied with Eastern in the upper half of the team standings, giving the team a strong chance of claiming the top 2 spot heading into the playoffs.<\/p>\r\r Baltazar has now upped his per-game averages to 7.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 23.8 minutes of action.<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"user_needs\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2024-12-26 20:41:22\",\"date_modified\":\"2024-12-26 20:42:20\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Mahmoud Morallos\",\"section_color\":\"#08F304\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":2616,"section_id":3,"seo_meta_keywords":"Baltazar,getting,acclimated,in,PBA","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Baltazar getting acclimated in PBA","publish_time":"2024-12-27 00:10:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":0,"visit_count":20,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Richard Dy","ts":"2024-12-27 15:07:31","last_edited":"2024-12-26 20:42:20","alt_publish_time":"2024-12-26 20:42:27","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2024\\\\\/12\\\\\/26\\\\\/500894.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":1100,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":603,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":657,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"Justine-Baltazar\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":2}","author_name":"Richard Dy","section_name":"Sports","sub_section_name":"","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2024-12-27 15:07:31","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2024\/12\/27\/sports\/baltazar-getting-acclimated-in-pba\/2027561","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2024-12-27 00:10:00","page_number":"0","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
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Baltazar getting acclimated in PBA
