Chris Newsome allayed fears of any major injury after getting hurt during Meralco’s first defeat of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup, Thursday night.
Relaying the team doctor’s initial diagnosis, the Bolts’ main man said that there is no structural damage to his left knee and ankle, although both will be checked further through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on Friday.
“Nothing serious as of now. You can classify it as an ankle sprain and a light knee sprain, which we’re gonna go get checked out tomorrow,” he told reporters moments after their 93-71 loss to TNT at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Newsome got hurt at the 3:10-mark of the first when opposing center Poy Erram inadvertently landed on his left leg. It happened after the latter tried to intercept the post entry pass of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to his teammate.
It took a while for Newsome to get back up, although he managed to get back into the game during the second quarter and soldiered on.
Unfortunately, he tweaked his left ankle again with four minutes left in the third quarter, and was then subbed out of the game for good.
Newsome, who was aided to Meralco’s dugout still with around 30 seconds to spare in the match, ended the night with 15 points to his name.
“As far as the knee, I could still walk, I could still bend. So structurally, the team doctor says everything is OK with my knee, just a light sprain,” he said.
“The ankle is actually the worst one. I sprained that once twice in the same game, so that’s the one we’re gonna be monitoring.
“But other than that, I think it feels pretty much like your typical ankle sprain, but there’s nothing structurally wrong. Of course, we’re gonna get the MRIs and stuff tomorrow, and see how it goes from there,” Newsome continued.
The Bolts won’t see action until Wednesday, August 28, versus Terrafirma and the time in between means more rest and recovery for Newsome.
The Gilas Pilipinas stalwart would want to be available in the Dyip game, but at the same time knows that he will have to play it smart, too.
“I’ll be OK. It’s just gonna take some time for me to get some of these injuries out. Nonetheless, Imma do whatever I can to become available for the next game,” the 34-year-old said. “If not the next game, then soon.
“But we gotta look at the bigger picture as well, with how long the season that we have including EASL and also the FIBA windows. Definitely gonna do my part in doing my rehab and try to get back to the team as fast as possible.”
