Calvin Abueva did not see heavy minutes during the Alaska Aces’ 92-86 conquest of the Star Hotshots Tuesday night, playing only 12 minutes and finishing with four points on 2-for-5 shooting.
In one of the timeouts, Abueva seemed disengaged and did not join the huddle, stirring speculation but head coach Alex Compton later on clarified that his primary forward has been enduring injuries constantly.
“Calvin is hurt. There are a lot of times he is jamming his ankle,” Compton said, stating Abueva’s ankle injury and pulled hamstring last week. “The thing about Calvin is he like Ryan Reyes. He will run head first to a wall for a ball.”
Compton added he sometimes considers not playing Abueva to help him recovery from injuries.
“Not a lot of people don’t know he is playing hurt constantly. Sometimes I don’t know if I will play him or not because he is hurting. When he is in there he is going hard and it is good for the team,” he said.
Abueva is averaging 15 minutes per match in the PBA Governors’ Cup, a huge dip from his 24 minutes per game in the season. But Compton clarified he does not see any issue from Abueva’s disengagement:
“When you are hurt sometimes you just want to be treated by the staff.”
