With less than five minutes to go in the first quarter of Game 3 between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Star Hotshots Monday night, Joe Devance rushed to the officials’ table, took off his warmer, and subbed in for Jervy Cruz.
As Devance set his foot on the court, the Barangay went wild, clapping and cheering the 37-year-old as if a hero had just returned. And why not? Devance has finally graced the court again after being down with an injury for the last three games.
Looking back, Devance got hurt during their first encounter with the Alaska Aces in the 2017 Philippine Cup Quarterfinals. At the 7:31 mark of the third quarter, Devance was seen sprawling on the ground, grimacing in pain. As it turned out, Devance suffered from a torn plantar fascia in his left foot — an injury that he has been nursing since the 2016 Governor’s Cup that worsened and eventually led to a full-blown tear, making him miss three playoff games.
But after a three-game lay-off, Devance, despite not yet 100 percent, did his best to return Monday night. And, that seemed to happen at the best of times, as his comeback inspired his teammates and helped the Barangay come out victorious, 73-62, and avoid a 0-3 hole.
In his first game back, the Fil-American forward, who took anesthetic shots for his foot to alleviate the pain and help him play, scored six points on 3-of-7 shooting to go along with six rebounds of his in the 18:32 minutes he logged inside the court.
Even head coach Tim Cone and his fellow ka-Barangays were raving with his inspiring comeback.
“Joe takes pride in sacrificing for his teammates, sacrificing shots and playing thru injury,” said Cone.
“Whether he’ll be available next game, I don’t know. It’s 50-50. I thought his minutes out there were key. He gave us size and created more space. His basketball IQ is off the charts. We become a lot more intelligent team when he’s on the floor. He makes us smarter and better.”
“Malaking bagay talaga kasi marami siyang nagagawa eh. I’m not talking about points lang, but nandun yung presence niya sa loob ng court. Iba siya as a leader eh,” added skipper LA Tenorio.
“Malaking responsibility for me as a point guard ‘pag nasa loob siya. You can think of him as a point guard also. Sana magtuloy-tuloy na na gumaling yung paa ni Joe.”
“Yun nga, we’re missing him big time, for the past two games. He gives experience sa mga ganyang situation kasi he’s been through a lot of series. He’s a facilitator inside so that’s what we’ve been missing,” spoke Japeth Aguilar.
“You guys have no idea. The sacrifice that he’s doing just to be out there… He’s our leader, he’s our glue guy, he’s our defensive anchor.
“So just to have him makes everybody feel good and as you can see, our defense was better with him being able to play,” said his bestfriend Sol Mercado.
Him returning was a risky maneuver after all, since a torn ligament is already a career-threatening injury. But for Devance, he just can’t stand seeing the Barangay lose at this stage in the playoffs.
“The doctor said I should rest, but I could play if I could take the pain,” said the versatile 6-foot-7 forward.
“How can I sit out right now? It’s hard to sit down in the sidelines and watch so I’m gonna do whatever I can to help.”
However, the Hawaii-native admitted that the pain came back during the game, the reason why he was sat out in the game’s final 12 minutes.
“My foot hurts. It’s in pain. It started to come back in the third quarter. In the fourth it’s really painful,” he reflected.
“If coach was gonna call I was gonna try to suck it up so it’s a good thing he really didn’t need me ’cause I think around the three-minute mark I told the trainer that my foot’s already hurting.”
But the seven-time PBA champion does not want to think of how this will affect him in the long run,  giving an assurance that he will suit up for the Barangay in Game 4 this Wednesday.
“I’m gonna play for sure.
“I’ll take that [anesthetic] shot again in Game 4. I’d take the shot every game if we can win. That’s what we’ll continue to do,” vowed Devance.
And as he struggled to walk back to the parking lot, Mercado was waiting for him, clutching his friend and thanking him for the huge boost he gave them.
