NLEX shooting guard Garvo Lanete challenges the defense of Café France’s Jam Cortes. Lanete is set to make a return after missing two games due to an injury. PBA Images/Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines — NLEX guard Garvo Lanete is expected suit up when defending champion NLEX looks to get back at Hog’s Breath as the semifinal round of the 2014 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup comes off wraps Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
Lanete, who has been producing MVP numbers, is set to return after missing the Road Warriors’ final two games of the elimination round due to a shoulder injury.
“I will play [on Tuesday],” Lanete, also part of the National team’s cadet pool, told INQUIRER.net in Filipino. “I’m [about] 90 percent but I’m ready to play.”
Top-seeded NLEX split the two games it played minus its go-to-guy Lanete, losing to quarterfinalist Cagayan Valley, 74-78, last January 28 before venting its ire against a disoriented Zambales side in record-setting fashion, 125-61, two days later.
The six-foot-one Lanete hurt his shoulder during the Road Warriors’ 47-point drubbing of Derulo Accelero Oilers last January 23 where he finished with 13 points.
Banking on their hot shooting, the Razorbacks dealt the Road Warriors a rare loss, 83-78, in the two teams’ only meeting in the elimination round late November and it’s definitely an indication of what kind of series it will be for both squads,
“[Beating us] is a plus factor for them,” said NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez. “It will be a tough series. We have to play solid individual and team defense if we want to win.”
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