MERALCO just lost one of the key players who helped the team clinched its first ever PBA championship last year.
Veteran gunner Allein Maliksi won’t be suiting up for the Bolts as they defend their Philippine Cup title as he is ruled out for the season due to a lingering back injury.
Maliksi, 37, said he’s been grounded this time by a bad case of sciatica, which is a pain that goes down the leg from the lower back.
“Next season na ako,” he curtly said on the sidelines as Meralco kicked off its title defense on Friday night with a thrilling 91-89 win over Converge at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The shooting guard played for just two games in Season 49, the last one on Christmas Day also against Converge in a 110-94 loss during the Commissioner’s Cup.
He was then coming off a surgery to remove bone spurs on his knee.
But it was also during that game when Maliksi felt he’s not yet in total shape after being out of action in the early part of the season.
Apparently, his back injury began acting up during that same stretch.
“Pero yung sa tuhod ko OK na,” said Maliksi.
The University of Santo Tomas product came up big for Meralco in last year’s All-Filipino Cup Finals against San Miguel, averaging 18.0 points in the last two games of the title series including 14 in the gripping 80-78 Game 6 win to clinch for the franchise its first ever league championship.
Coach Luigi Trillo acknowledged losing the services of Maliksi is a huge dampener for the team’s title retention bid.
But at the same time, he said the Bolts have a number of players they can rely on to fill the shoes left behind by Maliksi, mentioning the likes of Alvin Pasaol, Jansen Rios, and even rookie CJ Cansino.
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