RAY Parks needs no surgery for the strained left calf that kept him out for most of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
TnT Tropang Giga physical therapist Dexter Aseron said the big sophomore guard needs only enough rest to recover from his injury.
“He just need a month for him to be fully back to normal,” said Aseron. “No need for surgery, just strengthening.”
The 27-year-old Parks had been bothered by the injury since the start of the Philippine Cup bubble, forcing him to sit out the Tropang Giga’s opening day game against Alaska.
But he was healthy enough to lead TnT in scoring the rest of the eliminations all the way to the playoffs that he ended up leading the players’ statistical race by the time the semifinals was over.
The injury however, recurred in Game 1 of the Finals against Barangay Ginebra, where Parks played through overtime despite an obvious limp. He finished with a team-high 20 points, four rebounds, four assists in a 94-100 losing cause.
He never got to play again, cutting short his first-ever finals appearance in the league.
The Tropang Giga eventually lost the title series in five games to the Kings.
Parks' case was different from teammate Jayson Castro, who will have to undergo surgery by next month to remove bone spurs on both his knees.
Castro's injury forced him to sit out Ginebra's title-clinching win in Game 5, 82-78.
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