MANILA, Philippines - Jimmy Alapag only suffered an ankle sprain and it wouldn’t put at risk the brilliant Fil-Am point guard stints with Talk n Text and Smart Gilas Pilipinas.
“There’s no fracture; only soft tissue sprain,” Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes told The STAR the morning after Alapag sustained the injury and missed the last 22 minutes of their 101-75 rout of the Alaska Aces last Wednesday.
“We’ll see how he responds to therapy. It’s very doubtful but we still hope that he can play Sunday (versus Rain or Shine),” Reyes said.
Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman was also in the venue and looked worried with Alapag down on the floor, holding his right ankle in pain.
Alapag and Kelly Williams, who are reinforcing Smart Gilas in the Fiba Asia championship in Wuhan, China in September, should have been spared their duties with Talk n Text in the PBA Governors Cup. The two, however, opted to help the Texters in their grand slam bid.
Meanwhile, teams that dropped their opening day games face off today as action resumes at the Araneta Coliseum.
B-Meg and Powerade clash at 5 p.m. then Petron Blaze and Air21 collide at 7:15 p.m.
The Boosters come in with a new import in tow in Jeremy Wise who took over from an injured Ricky Harris. Wise is a former Southern Mississippi Eagle who had a stint with the Bakersfield Jam in the NBA D-League.
“Harris was okay but he’s injured,” said Petron coach Ato Agustin.
Much of the attention, however, could well be on B-Meg’s Stefhon Hannah, a high-profile recruit who struggled in his PBA debut versus Rain or Shine Saturday in Tacloban, Leyte.
Hannah, who’s impressive in tune-up games, had gone 0-of-16 from the floor before making his first basket in the third quarter. He finished with only eight points.
He, however, is expected to go all out and redeem himself as they play Chris Porter and the rest of the Powerade team.
“As a team, we know what we have and what we don’t. Pressing hard is what we are going to do,” said Powerade coach Bo Perasol.
Meanwhile, coaches Reyes and Tim Cone have ironed out the run-in they had at endgame of their Wednesday tussle.
“Ok na kami ni Tim (We’re now okay). I apologized and he accepted it,” said Reyes whose Texters kept on scoring baskets in the closing seconds with the outcome of the game long settled.
“It’s an understanding among us coaches (not to do that). I know it’s not ethical but the format calls for it. We need to play according to the format,” Reyes said.
“It’s a short tournament where the quotient is applied to break ties in the eliminations and in the semifinals. We’ve got to get every point possible. You’ll never know,” Reyes added.