Japeth Aguilar has been playing hurt for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the ongoing 2018 PBA Commissioners Cup Finals series.
The 6-foot-9 big man has yet to miss a game in the Finals even if he sustained an injury to his Achilles tendon during their semifinals series against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
But it’s the Finals, and coach Tim Cone needs every warm body he can get to match up against the San Miguel Beermen.
“Every time I play him beyond three minutes, I’m feeling guilty. I guarantee you, if this was not the Finals, he certainly would not be playing.
“He would not be playing in this series at all if it wasn’t for the Finals. But he wants to play, and he’s doing whatever he can to help us win,” disclosed Cone.
Still, Aguilar is averaging 13 minutes per game in the Finals, which has drawn praise from his fellow frontcourt mate Greg Slaughter.
“Huge. We’ve been missing him badly for this postseason, he got injured in that Meralco series,” remarked Slaughter.
“He’s been soldiering it, fighting as hard as he can giving us minutes, you know they’re so valuable to us today. He really put us over the top today.”
All game long, Slaughter was fighting off foul trouble. Stepping up when the 7-foot-1 behemoth struggled was Aguilar, who played 16 crucial minutes in the game. And Aguilar did not back down from the challenge of defending the likes of June Mar Fajardo and Renaldo Balkman, helping Ginebra take a pivotal 87-83 Game 5 win.
And the 31-year-old admitted that he is taking this series one game at a time.
“Okay lang naman. Road to recovery ako ngayon. Every other game, kaming mga PT, talagang ginagawa namin lahat ng makakaya namin,” the three-time PBA champion said. “‘Whatever it takes’, sabi nga ni coach Tim.
“This injury ko ngayon, it’s been the most na tumagal sa akin. I’m just taking it day by day, being patient with it,” he pointed out.
“I’m just trying to do any contribution na maibibigay ko sa team.”
