SMART CLARK GIGA CITY – Even if the PBA Philippine Cup Finals went the full route, Jayson Castro was no longer going to play for TnT Tropang Giga.
The team admitted Castro was without question out of the best-of-seven title series for good the moment he went down with bone spurs in his knee injury in Game 4.
The injured knee remained swollen for the 34-year-old Castro during Game 5 of the series Wednesday night when Barangay Ginebra finished off the Tropang Giga behind an 82-78 win at the Angeles University Foundation gym.
Castro was in uniform but was not fielded in. He didn’t even join the team during its warm-up shooting as he couldn’t jump or even run due to pain in both his knees, according to team insiders.
The TnT main man apparently began to feel the major effects of the injury during the team’s elimination round game against Meralco.
It didn’t help any when the Tropang Giga also had to play almost on a daily basis when the league decided to compress its schedule middle of the eliminations, further aggravating Castro’s condition.
Eventually, things took its toll in Game 4 of the finals when ‘The Blur’ just fell on his own early in the third quarter and had to be taken out. He never returned as the Kings won it, 98-88, to take a commanind 3-1 series lead.
Castro is set to undergo surgery to remove the bone spurs in the off-season.
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