ALASKA Milk may have lived for another day, but the Aces are facing a possibility of taking on top seed Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs without energizer bunny Calvin Abueva.
The Aces nipped the Meralco Bolts, 94-91, on Monday night to claim the last quarterfinal berth in a highly physical match that saw Abueva sprain his right ankle after going for a rebound in the second quarter.
It was an old injury that was aggravated by the controversial sophomore forward, who didn’t return to the game and is listed now doubtful for the Wednesday clash against the twice-to-beat Kings.
“Masakit… Fifty-fifty pa sa Wednesday,” Abueva told Spin.ph after the game.
The reigning Rookie of the Year also rued his sub-par effort in the sudden-death match where he missed all his five shots and was held scoreless in seven minutes. He did grab two offensive rebounds.
“Ang sama talaga. Wala akong points, pero I got two offensive rebounds at nakatulong naman yun. Pero talagang masama laro ko. Tapos masama pa yung nangyari sa akin.”
The former NCAA MVP said he hopes to play against the Kings, the league’s most popular team.
“Pagalingin ko muna ‘tong sprain ko bago ko isipin yan.”
He has less than two days to do that.
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