Ginebra San Miguel may be without one of its stars in Game Two of its 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal battle against NLEX on Friday.
Head coach Tim Cone bared that they have listed Japeth Aguilar as day-to-day following a Grade 2 strain diagnosis on his left calf.
And his status for the match set at 3:00 PM at Mall of Asia Arena, added the champion mentor, will depend on the re-evaluation of Dr. Raul Canlas.
“He will be evaluated by Dr. Canlas again tomorrow before the game,” Cone wrote in a message to Tiebreaker Times a day before Game Two. “His status is day-to-day and a game-time decision whether he can play or not.”
Aguilar suffered an injury barely two minutes into the third quarter of Game One on Wednesday night. He was trying to swat Cameron Clark’s jumper.
Play stopped at the 10:43-mark as the 35-year-old limped and eventually sat on the floor. He was visibly in pain while touching his left calf. He stood back up with the aid of the other Gin Kings, and then headed to the bench.
The 6-foot-9 forward was then sent to the dugout and never returned to the game. He left with only four points and five rebounds in 19 minutes.
Ginebra, though, was able to buck his absence and leave with the 95-86 win. Still, they could not fully celebrate since Aguilar went down.
This marks yet another setback for the 2019 Governors’ Cup Finals MVP this season. Previously, he missed the latter part of their Philippine Cup campaign in Bacolor due to a medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain.
Aguilar was averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds prior to Wednesday. That includes a 26-point outing to oust rivals TNT in the quarterfinals just last Saturday, in what was his best performance thus far in the conference.
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