RAIN or Shine will be playing the rest of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup without import Denzel Bowles.
The team on Sunday revealed Bowles will no longer be able to play for the rest of the conference after hurting his knee in the Elasto Painters’ 86-84 win over the Alaska Aces on Saturday.
“Out na,” was the curt reply of coach Caloy Garcia when asked about the status of the former Best Import.
Garcia though didn't specify what was exactly the injury suffered by the 30-year-old import.
Bowles went down after colliding with Alaska sophomore Jeron Teng with 4:03 to play in the second period, The import later said he felt ‘something crack’ in his knee during the collision and was taken to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center at halftime.
Raymund Yu, who was with co-team owner Terry Que at the Mall of Asia Arena when Bowles got injured, said the organization already has a short list of possible replacement but would rather not divulge their names at the moment.
The Elasto Painters are now scrambling to have a replacement flown just before Wednesday or face the prospect of playing import-less against the Magnolia Hotshots.
At 4-5, the team currently stands tied for sixth to seventh places with Phoenix with still two games left in its elimination round campaign. It faces San Miguel for its final outing on Saturday in Cagayan de Oro City.
Although the loss of Bowles was a huge blow, Beau Belga said its now up to the locals to take on the challenge.
"Panibagong problema, but I think the locals are going to step up in case na wala kaming makuhang import," said the veteran big man.
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