Japeth Aguilar’s return to Ginebra didn’t turn out that well.
The 35-year-old reinjured his hurting calf after seeing action for a few minutes in Game Four of the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals against Meralco on Wednesday night, no less than head coach Tim Cone disclosed.
“Japeth had to leave the game. I didn’t take him out. He had to leave the game because he was starting to feel the calf injury,” he said shortly after their 95-84 victory over the Bolts at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Aguilar was brought in at the 1:43-mark of the first quarter to take the place of Christian Standhardinger, playing for the first time in quite a while or since their semis opener against NLEX last March 23 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The 6-foot-10 forward appeared to be doing just fine, until he asked to be subbed out approaching the midway mark of the final chapter, never to return. The Gin Kings, at that point, were holding on to a 13-point lead, 80-67
Aguilar played for a total of 10 minutes and 37 seconds.
“Once he went out, the trainers told me that he was out for the game,” said Cone. “I don’t know how bad it was. That’s always, always the risk with a calf injury, that you reinjure it. We were trying to be really careful.”
The champion mentor took the blame for what happened.
“I was trying not to overplay him,” he said. “I only played him for, like, three or four minutes in the first half. I saw him getting tired in the second half, but we were making a run, and I didn’t have the discipline to take him out.
“I should have had more discipline to take him out. And if he has that injury again, that’s on me. That’s not on him,” added Cone, who missed the reigning Governors’ Cup Finals MVP for a total of six games.
With this, Aguilar is once again a game-time decision on Sunday. And Cone definitely hopes that everything turns out fine for the veteran big man for the impact he provides to the Barangay whenever he’s on the court.
“He did come out and play when we really needed him. You could see the impact he had on the floor. I mean, the impact defensively, the impact offensively, they had to play us a little differently,” he said.
“We were able to get a little bit more rest for Christian and Justin with him out there without losing a lot. We really needed him to do what he did today. I hope that doesn’t sacrifice anything for him in the future.”
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