Meralco would want Chris Newsome to fully recover now that they are heading into crucial stretches in both of the leagues they’re participating in.
The Bolts star was in street clothes during their East Asia Super League (EASL) duel versus Jeremy Lin and New Taipei on Wednesday night, and his on-court presence was badly missed as his side bowed to an 89-77 decision.
Head coach Luigi Trillo didn’t specify the exact condition of their main man but the club would rather see him focus solely on returning to full health than taking any risk despite their situation in the pan-regional tilt, where they fell to 1-4.
“We want New taking care of that first,” said the veteran mentor during the postgame press conference at the Philspots Arena in Pasig.
“Hopefully he’ll be better,” he added.
“Day-to-day siya. We don’t want to force him to play and then he reinjures it and then he’s out for the season. Last [PBA] conference we didn’t have him, and we didn’t make the playoffs.”
Newsome was just one of the many players that Meralco missed in their EASL versus the Kings. The team also didn’t have Aaron Black, as well as frontcourt players Norbert Torres and Raymar Jose plus Alvin Pasaol.
Trillo lamented how tough the recent weeks were for Meralco, which was the very reason why it came into Wednesday’s game badly depleted.
“We had a tough week. Two weeks before the Ginebra game we had eight guys sick, five guys had COVID,” he disclosed.
Still, hope isn’t lost for the Bolts, with Trillo saying that Newsome won’t be out for a long period of time. The team is hoping that he will return sooner in their ongoing PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup campaign.
Meralco has three games left in the eliminations, and the 33-year-old could be back in action during that span wherein they’d face the top-seeded Magnolia, the no. 2 Phoenix Super LPG, and the also-ran Terrafirma, in that order.
The crew is presently at no. 3 in the team standings with a 6-2 card and it is surely looking to lock up — or even hike — its position to secure a Top Four finish, which merits a twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals.
“The good thing is that he won’t be out for the whole conference,” Trillo said.
“We’ll see day by day. Our target for him is to be playoff-ready. Pinaka-importante sa amin is that he’s ready come the playoffs.”
