IT was a difficult decision which TNT has to make at the last minute.
Coach Chot Reyes said the uncertainty of Rey Nambatac’s health status forced the Tropang 5G to make the difficult decision of leaving the veteran guard out of their playoff roster for the PBA Philippine Cup.
Apparently, the 31-year-old Nambatac has yet to fully recover from the groin injury that has kept him out of the lineup for over a month now.
READ Nambatac no longer reactivated by TNT for PBA playoffs
And worse, he’s also been dealing with a hip flexor injury, the same issue that supposedly grounded Arvin Tolentino in his finals days with NorthPort.
“Mahirap din talaga nung pinag-isipan namin kasi he’s not yet ready. And the earliest na sinasabi nila from now is another one or two weeks,” said Reyes after the Tropang 5G extended their season with a gutsy 89-88 win over the Magnolia Hotshots in their quarterfinals duel Wednesday night at the Philsports Arena.
And with an imposed deadline for teams to submit their respective roster prior to the playoffs, TNT was left with no other option but to leave Nambatac out of the active roster.
“Hindi na (puwede). Tapos na yung deadline, e,” said Reyes.
Perhaps it was the reason why TNT has to stuff its backcourt with the likes of free agents Almond Vosotros and Mike Nieto, while trading for Jordan Heading with Converge for Mikee Williams given the skepticism hovering around Nambatac’s health.
Of course, the guard out of Letran was a central figure in TNT’s back-to-back championships in Season 49, and was even named Finals MVP during the team’s title run in the Commissioner’s Cup.
But Reyes and the rest of the TNT coaching also had Nambatac’s welfare in their minds the decision to leave him out was made.
“Hindi lang kasi groin, pati hip flexor. So sabi namin we don’t want to have a career-threatening injury. Kasi alam mo naman si Rey, kapag laro, ilalaro niya talaga yun,” said the TNT mentor.
Nambatac nonetheless, continued to show up in TNT games like he did during the game against the Hotshots as he sat on the team bench.
He initially suffered the groin injury during the Tropang 5G’s game against defending champion Meralco.
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