Japeth Aguilar felt relieved upon making one of the best plays of Ginebra’s Game Five conquest of Meralco in the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
The high-leaping forward wowed the 18,000-plus fans that trooped to the SMART Araneta Coliseum just seconds into the second period, when he caught Scottie Thompson’s lob and slammed it home for the spectacular connection.
Making it all the more impressive was that he managed to seize the ball mid-air even if it came from quite a distance — the new Best Player of the Conference actually threw the rock near the Big Dome logo at center court.
Aguilar was glad to have made such a highlight, but the fact that he’s able to jump with little to no restriction satisfied him the most.
“Kasi talagang inuunti-unti ko hanggang sa makatalon ako and stuff. Nung nakuha ko ‘yun, parang, eto na, ayun nga, unti-unti nakakabalik ako sa rhythm ko,” he said moments after their 115-110 victory.
Aguilar has yet to fully recover from the calf injury he suffered in the semis late last month, but shared that he’s been making progress as of late.
Photo by PBA Images
“Okay naman. Basta ‘yun nga, tuloy-tuloy naman ‘yung pag-heal niya and (as) every day goes by, nagi-improve,” said the 35-year-old second generation cager.
He returned from a six-game absence back in Game Four last Wednesday, although he had to ask to be subbed out in the final period after aggravating his injury. But the Holy Week break seemed to have helped a lot.
Sunday night saw him log a total of 15 minutes and 47 seconds. He finished with six points, two rebounds, two steals, and a block.
“Everyday naman it’s getting better. And behind the scenes, ginagawa ko rin lahat para lumakas siya. ‘Yung therapy ko actually four hours and then yung mga PT namin they’re doing everything they can,” said Aguilar.
A bit of change in his leaping technique did wonders as well, according to the 2019 Governors’ Cup Finals Most Valuable Player.
“At tsaka ‘yung technique ko kanina, ‘yung ginawa ko, instead of jumping my usual like right-left, ginawa kong left-right. ‘Yung pinam-push off ko ‘yung right leg ko,” Aguilar explained.
“Technique lang ako bumawi.”
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