ALBEIT a natural part of the game, injuries have swung back and forth across the board as of late in UAAP Season 86 men's basketball.
From Jerom Lastimosa's knee injury to Steve Nash Enriquez's dislocated jaw, questions have rose on whether such successive injuries go down as mere player fitness concerns, a coincidental series of unfortunate occurrences, or something else.
READ: NU's Steve Nash Enriquez to undergo surgery on injured jaw
Shortly after the first Battle of Katipunan matchup, in which Ateneo's Geo Chiu and UP's Francis Lopez fell down to cramps and an ankle issue respectively, Baldwin raised a few ideas on a budding injury bug across the league.
"I think the big games get to these guys a little bit. The adrenaline will have that effect on you sometimes. We’ve seen it with other players in big games," said Baldwin.
"We saw it last year in the playoffs. We saw Forthsky (Padrigao) go down, we saw JD (Cagulangan) go down. We’ve seen it this year in big games," he added.
Moreover, Baldwin raised how such injury woes may also be a product of the pandemic's aftermath in the sports world altogether.
"There’s a lot of weird stuff happening coming out right after the pandemic in terms of player fitness and injuries and conditions and all of that sort of stuff. I think we’re gonna continue to see the ramifications of that for some time," Baldwin said
"Whether this is that or not, I don’t know. But the world’s definitely changed."
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