JORDAN Heading remains bothered by the back spasms that has kept him out for most of the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup.
Heading said his back acted up again during the first game of the quarterfinal series against Magnolia, and since then, he is being managed with his practice time and court action.
READ: TNT remains a puzzle that Rain or Shine has yet to solve
“It’s still the back spasm,” said Heading, acquired in a trade with Converge midway through the conference with the semifinals series opener serving as only his fifth game with TNT.
“I hit the ground a few times. But I think, at the very end of the game against Magnolia on that contact with the ground, it kind of spasmed up again, and that’s kind of what I’m dealing with.”
The good news for him is he is feeling much better as trainers continue to work up on him for TNT’s grand slam push.
“My back definitely felt better than it did last game against Magnolia. So I’m still just trying to limit my minutes and just kind of let that back get back to normal. Hopefully, that happens pretty quickly,” said Heading.
“We were literally throwing everything at it, chiropractors, physios, everything we could thing of so it got me to a pretty good spot. I’m doing whatever I can do to make that spasm go down,” he added.
This is perhaps why Heading had a better performance in Game 1 where he had 11 points on 2-of-5 shooting from threes in TNT’s 98-91 win over Rain or Shine on Wednesday.
Heading also produced in his first-ever game at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Unbelievable venue so it was a super fun game. I’m excited for the series to keep going,” said Heading.
Heading is determined to stay healthy in order to contribute for TNT, knowing that it would be hard to overcome Rain or Shine even with a 1-0 series lead if they don’t stay consistent with their play.
“They are always a tough team to face in a series because they play with such great pace and aggressiveness, the way that they crash the offensive glass is quite impressive so we just got to take care of that, take care of transition every single game and that’s what they want to do," he said.
"They want to run so it’s hard to stop. But it’s what we’ve got to do if we want to win the series."
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