Arvin Tolentino lamented missing NorthPort’s most important game of the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup due to a nagging knee injury.
The Batang Pier star was in civvies on the sidelines and helplessly witnessed the Batang Pier lose to Ginebra due to patellofemoral pain syndrome.
“Honestly, the whole conference, I was feeling it,” he told reporters moments after their 106-93 defeat at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, Friday night.
Tolentino disclosed that he’s already been suffering from the said knee issue since his Gilas Pilipinas stint in the 19th Asian Games in China.
But it wasn’t until their elimination round capper against, coincidentally, the Kings last January 7 where the pain was no longer bearable.
“During the Asian Games, I was already feeling it. But ito nung last game namin, hindi na nawala ‘yung pain eh. Tsaka 10 out of 10 na siya, so I had to go to the doctor,” said the 6-foot-5 winger out of Far Eastern University.
The good news, though, he shared, is that there’s no structural damage to the injured knee, and he would not need to go under the knife.
“‘Yung structure niya is OK. ‘Yun ‘yung finding ng doctor,” said the 29-year-old Tolentino. “I just need to rehab and strengthen it.”
He said he would’ve played had NorthPort managed to push the Kings to a rubber match on Sunday but the reigning champs proved to be too much, maximizing their win-once incentive to forge a semis clash with San Miguel.
It ended as well an impressive campaign for the four-year pro, who’s running third in the Best Player of the Conference race after the eliminations with 35.2 statistical points behind averages of 22.4 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Tolentino is glad to be in the mix for the award but the two-time champion would rather reach the semifinals than take any individual success.
“Masaya naman dahil napasama din dun sa top performers here sa conference. But we lost today, hindi kami nakapasok sa semis, so balewala lang din lahat.
“Our goal talaga this conference, and my personal goal, is to really reach the semis and from there, see what happens,” said the native of Angono. “But wala, hanggang semis lang. Ginebra nakatapat eh, ang lakas.”
