MAVERICK Ahanmisi wasn’t supposed to return to active duty for Barangay Ginebra until the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.
But coach Tim Cone gave the veteran guard an opportunity to test if he’s finally game-ready just as the Kings were wrapping up their 97-78 blowout win over the TNT Tropang 5G on Sunday night.
SCENARIOS: TNT may need a Ginebra 'assist' to claim twice-to-beat
Ahanmisi hasn’t played for more than a month due to what Cone said was a sprained ACL and was expected to return in the playoffs.
An opportunity however, opened up during the TNT game as the Kings had everything under control right from the get-go, so much so that the Ginebra coach approached Ahanmisi at the final 4:39 mark and his side way ahead, 90-65.
“Actually I have no intention to play him at all. But so I went over to him at the end of the game, and said, ‘You know, if you want to run, just test yourself for a few minutes and see how you feel and get yourself ready for the next game.’”
And so the 33-year-old Fil-Am guard came in for Stephen Holt and finished the game where he grabbed a rebound and dished off two assists, but missed his lone field goal for the night.
“So he went out there and played the last three or four minutes of the game just to get a run and get a feel for the speed of the game again,” said Cone.
It was the first game of Ahanmisi since coming through with seven points, four rebounds, and three assists in the Kings’ 131-106 rout of Northport last April 30.
He then missed Ginebra’s next six games due to his hurting knee until Cone decided to break him in entering the final week of the eliminations.
“Our intention is not to play him and he was available. But we didn’t think he had it,” said the two-time grand slam winner. “He only start practicing fully a couple of days ago, two days ago in fact. And he’s been out for quite a while.”
Ahanmisi is expected to suit up and perhaps, play longer minutes in Ginebra’s final game in the eliminations against Rain or Shine on Sunday before the playoffs kick off next week.
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