MANILA, Philippines — San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone admitted that his team took a hit with the loss of Allein Maliksi due to injury.
Maliksi was a key contributor before sustaining another knee injury in the Mixers’ win over the Aces last Friday night.
“In all honesty I think the injury to Allein really brought us down a little bit. We knew he was really performing at a high level for us and to lose him like we did it’s really a devastating blow,” said Cone.
Initially, the 26-year-old Maliksi was thought to have sprained his MCL (medial collateral ligament) after a hard fall but according to Cone, the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) revealed that his six-foot-three acquisition from Barako Bull has a partial ACL tear on his left knee.
“We haven’t got the official results yet, but the radiologist who took the MRI said it’s most likely, at least a partial tear of the ACL,” added Cone after the Mixers took a 1-0 headstart in their best-of-five semifinals series over the Meralco Bolts Sunday night.
“And when it comes to ACL, partial tear and full tear is just the same recovery and injury. So we have the impression right now that he’s going to be out the next couple of conference. Hopefully he’ll be back for us in the third conference.”
The former University of Santo Tomas standout and inaugural PBA D-League MVP Maliksi had already endured two ACL injuries and despite having an injury-plagued career, Cone has no doubts that Maliksi would be able to hurdle through.
“We’ll wait for him. We believe in that kid. Man we believe in him and I love the kid and we’re going to wait for him. He’s already been through two ACL injuries so he knows what it’s all about and he knows how to recover. He’s got a great work ethic. He’ll be back, he’ll be back strong. He’ll be back like he was.”