CAMERON Clark is dealing with a pulled muscle in his hip and his comeback for Eastern in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup is still uncertain.
Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic said they are taking a cautious approach with Clark especially with the Hong Kong-based guest team scheduled to face Barangay Ginebra on Sunday in the PBA and San Miguel on December 18 in the EASL.
READ Eastern clamps down on Blackwater, wins second in a row
“Hip flexors, it’s a group of muscles and he has one pull. Nothing serious,” said Bajramvoic. “Need to stay out of practice and take treatments.”
Eastern hopes Clark will already be healthy enough to play in the EASL game since teams can field two imports in the regional league.
“We decide to keep him out at least for this game. We have an EASL game in Hong Kong on the 18th of this month with San Miguel, then we will see later,” said Bajramovic about Clark.
“It’s hard to predict. He was not practicing at all, he is in treatments and waiting to see how he is going to be in the next few days,” the Bosnian coach added.
Chris McLaughlin had a huge outing in his first game as Clark’s replacement, going for 32 points and 23 rebounds in Eastern’s 84-75 win against Blackwater.
“Coming into this game, I just want to keep it simple, take care of the paint, rebound, play defense, and the rest of the game would come to me naturally,” said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin put up impressive numbers despite picking up five fouls, which he attributes to adjusting to what constitutes a foul and what is not in the PBA.
“Moving forward, I think we just got to keep doing what we have been doing, and me personally, just continuing to focus on those things, rebounding, not getting into foul trouble. That was me kinda feeling the PBA for my first game, see what is allowed and what’s not allowed. I was able to stay the whole game,” said McLaughlin.
Seamless transition
The Canadian import also said his previous stints with Eastern in their domestic league and the EASL helped in the seamless transition in the PBA.
“Luckily, I’ve been with this group for a long time, specifically Eastern for a couple of years,” said McLaughlin. “All the local players, I know quite well.”
“With Cam, I’ve been working and practicing with him for the last couple of months. I’ve been here in Manila training with the team every practice and preparing for the moment in case I was called up to play. I just try to stay ready the whole time,” said McLaughlin.
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