ARVIN Tolentino will have to undergo either surgery or therapy to heal his injured left shoulder.
The Ginebra big man is going to see renowened orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raul Canlas to for the injury that has kept him out of the PBA Philippine Cup for the last two games.
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“Masakit (siya). So malalaman kung surgery or therapy lang,” said Tolentino on Sunday night following the Kings’ 100-93 win over NorthPort Batang Pier at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“May movement siya na masakit,” he added. “Pag may resistance siya masakit. Pero kapag wala, nagagalaw ko naman siya.”
The injury comes at the most unfortunate time for Tolentino with the Kings now focusing their attention to the playoffs.
Following the victory over NorthPort, Ginebra improved to 7-3, for solo third place and one more game to go against Phoenix.
Arvin Tolentino hopes to contribute as the Gin Kings gun for the title.
The Kings are already assured of going to a best-of-three series in the quarterfinals, where they could miss out on the services of the 26-year-old Tolentino.
“He could miss the whole playoffs, he could be out for a long period of time, or he could come back fairly quickly sometime in the playoffs,” said coach Tim Cone. But we don’t know. We have absolutely no clue yet.
“We have no timetable for him at all. We have no idea.”
Tolentino is averaging 11.8 and 5.0 rebounds in eight games for the Kings until being slowed down by the injury.
Cone said the team isn’t in a hurry to bring back Tolentino, who he referred to as a ‘golden nugget’ for Ginebra.
“Shoulders have wrecked careers in the past, so we want to make sure. Arvin’s a big golden nugget for us so we don’t want to squander that golden nugget. We want to make sure he gets right before we put him back in the lineup,” stressed the Ginebra coach.
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