Sean Anthony admitted that he had felt out of sync as he rejoined the NorthPort Batang Pier in their match against defending, two-time Governors’ Cup champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-4 wingman sat out for about a month as he sustained a calf injury during one of the team’s practices. In the game, he played for over 34 minutes and produced nine points on 3-of-12 shooting along with five assists, and three rebounds.
“It felt good to be out there but I didn’t feel completely up to speed, I mean, I just had two days of practice after sitting out for about over a month, so that was my first time playing five-on-five full court since last conference,” he said.
‘Today was one of the few times that I was really out of breath. Usually I’m full of energy and all over the place,” admitted the 32-year-old Filipino-Canadian.
“I was not really ‘buwis buhay’ as they would say.”
It wasn’t the kind of return Anthony had wanted, as his Batang Pier fell short of their comeback attempt from 19 down, 98-104. That it was their fourth straight loss made the defeat tougher to fathom.
NorthPort are now 0-4.
But even with the stinging defeat, Anthony still saw plenty of positives with the way they fared against Ginebra. And as for himself, he vows that he will be much better come their next game versus the Blackwater Elite on the 19th.
“Today we stepped up a bit, defensively. We let them get to an early lead, and then we let them pull away at the end, but that middle part was the right defense that we should be playing,” said the eight-year veteran.
“I’ll be ready by the 19th. It’s two weeks [from now] so I can actually run and do some conditioning and full court and get my lungs going.”
