“I won’t probably lose sleep but I’ll definitely be worried.”
In tonight’s PBA action, which saw Ginebra battle it out against a gutsy Blackwater Elite, the Barangay eked out a 99-90 victory. But they had to pull through the second half without Japeth Aguilar.
Aguilar sustained the injury during the 3:50 mark of the second quarter. With Ginebra up 44-35, he did a quick two-handed dunk off the break, but fell awkwardly on his right elbow as he went down from the rim.
According to Cone, Ginebra actually tried to get Aguilar back in action. However, the pain seemed to be too much for Aguilar, as Cone decided to sit him down for the remainder of the match.
Aguilar finished the night with 14 points on 5-of-9 from the floor, along with five rebounds, in just 14 minutes of action.
“We tried Japeth at halftime, tried him to take some shots and see if he can get through his elbow,” said Cone.
“We’re told that it’s a hyper-extended elbow. We don’t know if there’s a ligament damage yet — we don’t know until he takes an MRI.”
Cone has every reason to be worried, though. With Aguilar’s injury, Ginebra might have dug yet another hole in the center position — a position already vacated by seven-footer Greg Slaughter.
“We’ve done a great job withstanding Greg’s injury, and having to turn around and do it with Japeth, [it] would be very, very difficult to have those guys out,” Cone remarked.
But in spite of the downsides Aguilar’s injury might bring to Ginebra, who are now 5-4 in the standings, and with Greg Slaughter [ACL] and Aljon Mariano [MCL] out, Cone still stays brave, saying that all they have to do is to keep going no matter what happens.
“It’s oftentimes the way the game is played, and we’ll just have to find the next man up. That’s what we’ve done with Greg and we have to do it with Japeth so be it.”
When asked if he will advise Aguilar — who is averaging 18.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per outing — to take shots in a more simple manner, Cone said that it is something he won’t do, admitting that he does not want to compromise Aguilar’s style of play.
“No. That’s his game,” said the 59-year-old mentor.
“That’s just Japeth. It’s something that is part of the game — just like running up and down the floor, getting banged, getting up there on the rim. That’s just his game and we won’t take it away from him.
“And everybody loves it, the crowd loves it, and our teammates loved it. It’s more than just a shot — it’s an energizer for the team,” added Cone.
Regarding Aguilar’s status on Sunday as they clash with Phoenix Fuel Masters at the Philsports Arena, a cloud of uncertainty has been cast all over the Barangay.
“His status for Sunday is… We don’t know that either. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow, how he feels, how much pain he’s having,” shared Cone.
