Meralco is crossing its fingers that Chris Newsome suffered nothing serious after going down in pain late in their eventual win over Phoenix on Friday night.
The Bolts main man had to be carried by his teammates to the bench after sustaining an apparent left knee injury with 19.4 seconds left to play, at a time where the team was still staving off their comebacking foes.
Newsome left the game with 15 points on a 42-percent clip from the field, six rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block in 37 minutes.
“New felt something,” said Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo moments after the 82-76 win at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “We’re going to have it checked first. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious. He said he felt something.”
Trillo said that the injury may have been due to Newsome going in contact with Fuel Masters forward Javee Mocon while jockeying for position near the rim.
“I was trying to look at the replay, it was him and Mocon, their knees got entangled,” recounted the veteran mentor. “Mocon was moving forward, he kinda clipped New from the back of his knee. It was too quick a play.”
Asked about the injury, Newsome said that he still could play especially on Sunday against Magnolia at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, a game crucial for a Meralco side that is currently at 4-5 in the conference standings.
“I think I can play,” said the 33-year-old guard. “It’s more of letting the muscles kinda relax a bit from the hit. Other than that, everything else is OK.
“Just gonna go home to rest and take some medicine. We got a game on Sunday so we don’t have too much time in between games. Do our best to get ready for the next game against Magnolia, do whatever I can to be available.”
Now it’s about having it checked as soon as they can for the Bolts staff, and hope, of course, for the best on Newsome and his knee.
“The hard thing for us now is to get an MRI. Normally you have an MRI, [but] it’s hard to get a schedule,” Trillo lamented.
“Normally, it’s one more day til you find it. We’ll probably have to do it tomorrow and then we’ll find out. Hopefully, New is okay,” he added.
