JOE Devance earned yet another medal of valor from coach Tim Cone.
The Ginebra coach had nothing but praise for his ever-reliable big man, who, for the nth time, again came to the rescue of the undermanned Kings in their past two games while playing with an injured left knee and left foot.
The Fil-Am big man scored 17 points, grabbed two rebounds, and issued seven assists in the 110-102 win over San Miguel Beermen on Sunday night when he wasn't even supposed to be playing under normal circumstances.
“He was not supposed to play these last two games. He wasn’t supposed to be in the lineup for another week and a half, at least,” said Cone. “And he said that he will play through the pain. He’s taking a lot of medications to play through the pain.”
Playing through injury is no longer new to Devance.
The 36-year-old native of Honolulu bucked bone spurs on his foot by taking shots just before every game on the way to helping Ginebra end an eighth-year title drought by winning the 2016 edition of the Governors Cup.
At the moment, Devance said he’s just 60 percent healthy.
“Actually, one of the doctors suggest that I get surgery. But I really want to do everything I can and not get surgery,” he said after the Kings improved their record to 4-1 in the PBA Governors Cup despite being down to a 10-man rotation.
“I’m just trying to figure out a way to help the team.”
Cone disclosed the strained calf injury suffered by Japeth Aguilar convinced Devance to return to action much earlier than expected.
“He saw that when Japeth went out during practice before our game (against Blackwater), he came up to me and said, ‘Coach, I’ll try,” recalled Cone. “And knowing and looking around, I was saying we really needed him.”
Devance finished with seven points, two rebounds, and six assists in his first game of the conference, which the Kings unfortunately lost to the Elite in overtime, 124-118, then led from the front against the Beermen.
"My hat goes off to Joe for fighting through everything, and continuing to play. He has done that his whole career," said the Ginebra coach.
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