Alex Cabagnot said that he is ‘getting there’ as far as conditioning is concerned after playing for the first time in nine months when Terrafirma made its 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup debut against Converge, Friday.
The decorated floor general offered that he was in ‘decent’ shape after logging in 39 minutes, but was quick to play it down as he would want to see first how he fared once he gets the chance to watch the game film.
“It’s good, it’s good. It’s getting there,” he said. “I think this is my ninth month since I got the surgery. Literally today was the time I got surgery in December, so… I don’t know, I gotta look at the film, and see how I look.”
“I felt decent for not playing for nine months, but obviously the film is gonna tell me the real story,” Cabagnot added in between chuckles, visibly glad to be back. “So I’m gonna definitely dissect the film and see how I played.”
Cabagnot was out for over nine months after tearing his Achilles during the Dyip’s 2021-22 Governors’ Cup match with NLEX last December.
It was, indeed, a development so scary given the severity of such. Add to that the fact that he had just turned 39 days days prior to suffering the injury.
And so, the time away from the game was all about therapy and recovery for him. He even spent over six months in Los Angeles to spur the process.
“Terrafirma gave me the go-signal to train in LA, so I was there in a sports-specific rehab and just worked there for, like, the last six and a half months. So, I spent two and a half months here and six and a half months there,” he added. “It’s still a continuous process, so hopefully matawid ko rin.”
It could have felt much sweeter for Cabagnot had the Dyip not absorbed a 124-110 beating. Still, he’s glad to have come back.
“We didn’t pull off the victory. That’s what I was thinking about,” said the nine-time champion, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
“Sayang,” he added. “We’re gonna go back to the drawing board. Hopefully we can prepare for the next game and have a better showing.”
