ANTIPOLO — It’s never easy playing with lip stitches, more so 30, yet Calvin Oftana chooses to push through it in the ongoing PBA Governors’ Cup playoffs.
The TNT winger refuses to be held back by injury, especially with the conference in its crucial stage.
And Sunday night should be proof that he’s gotten used to it after playing his best game of their quarterfinal battle versus NLEX to date.
Plugged back into the starting lineup, he finished with 18 points, spiked by three triples, five rebounds, and three assists to help the defending champions to a 109-91 victory — putting themselves a win away from returning to the semis.
“Thirty-plus stitches. So, you put yourself in his shoes, it’s no joke to try and come back,” lauded head coach Chot Reyes himself of Oftana during the postgame presser of Game 3 at the Ynares Center.
Oftana has actually been solid in the group stage, but saw his flow disrupted early in their meeting against NorthPort last September 22.
There, the 28-year-old got hit inadvertently by Batang Pier star and Gilas teammate Arvin Tolentino, busting his lower lip. He never finished the game as he was rushed to the hospital, where he had to be stitched up.
Understandably, he struggled especially in the first two games of the quarters, scoring just a total of 17 points as they split those assignments.
“He really struggled,” Reyes said. “Not only on offense, but even on defense. Kasi siyempre, isusubo mo ba ‘yung mukha mo, ang dami mo ngang tahi dito.”
Oftana came off the bench in both of those matches, as the coaches wanted to ease him back in while he regains his groove back. But on Sunday, the brain thrust deemed it best to put him back into the first five.
“We wanted to ease him in off the bench, which he has been doing din naman in the elimination round,” said Reyes. “But after a couple of games that he’s been struggling, we thought that it’s time to bring him back to the starting lineup.”
Needless to say, Oftana is most effective as a starter, leading to his best showing of the series thus far. And he left his team beaming with pride that he’s now back to his old ways despite going through his ordeal.
“As you can see, that’s really where he’s I think most comfortable,” said the league’s only six-time Coach of the Year. “And [we relayed the] same message to Calvin, just do your job. Just do your job, and be Calvin Oftana.”
Definitely, he did.
