Staying ready for Game Five of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals on Easter Sunday is the main objective of Japeth Aguilar despite aggravating his injury.
The Ginebra forward hurt his calf again during Game Four, the reason why he was reduced to a spectator in the final six minutes of the match that the Barangay won, 95-84, to tie the series versus Meralco at 2-2.
“I’m just gonna take it one day at a time,” he said after the game at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Tomorrow, we’ll see what I can do. Basta importante, ready lang ako sa Game Five. ‘Yun lang ‘yung mindset ko sa ngayon.”
Aguilar disclosed that he had to ask to be subbed out at the 6:38-mark of the final period — and with the Gin Kings up 13 — as he felt tightness on his calf.
He never returned. The 35-year-old played a total of 10 minutes and 37 seconds, where he went 0-for-3 and tallied one rebound.
It was his first game back in a while or since Game One of their semis affair with NLEX last March 27 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
“When I got out of, I think, like, third quarter, I felt like medyo nagta-tight na siya ulit. Nagfa-fatigue na siya. So … pagpasok ko ng fourth, konting takbo ko, nag-tight na siya ulit. So I asked to get subbed,” he recalled.
Ginebra head coach Tim Cone, meanwhile, took the blame for Aguilar’s situation, lamenting that he should’ve done better in managing his minutes.
“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,” said the league’s winningest mentor.
The 2019 Governors’ Cup Finals MVP, though, preferred to look at the silver lining, saying that he at least knows now how to handle it better.
“But I’m happy rin na na-try ko na siya sa game. Now, I know ano pa ‘yung kailangang gawin to strengthen it,” said Aguilar.
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