Meralco’s Jared Dillinger.
With the game already secured, Meralco took a huge hit after Jared Dillinger hurt his right hamstring late in the game.
The energetic forward snatched the ball from Troy Rosario, but immediately felt the pain as he went down the court and scored the layup. He asked to be subbed out immediately with only 1:06 left in the contest.
Even Dillinger would admit that he was not quite sure what happened, but he earlier had a hint that there may have been something wrong.
“It was already feeling funny before the game. I could tell it with my shots. My shots were short. I wasn’t sure what’s going on,” he said after Meralco’s 106-91 victory over TNT where he finished with eight points.
The more important thing for Dillinger, though, is that the Bolts were able to even the series out and make
it a virtual best-of-three.
“We got the win and I’m happy for that. I’m happy we made it a three-game series. We’re struggling a little bit but we won. It’s all that matters,” he said.
Dealing TNT only its second defeat this conference, Dillinger said that it’s already a huge boost for the Bolts as they aspire their first ever Finals appearance. But they knows nothing will come easy given the pedigree of their opposition.
“It’s a good confidence booster for us, but TNT is a championship caliber team. It doesn’t mean that we beat them once, it doesn’t mean anything. We still got to beat these guys two times,” he said. “Those guys are winners. It’s going to be a battle for sure.”
Dillinger will have his leg checked Friday and await doctors’ orders for the Game 3 duel on Saturday.
The 32-year-old forward, though, said that he’s ready to suit up for the tiff amid the pain.
“I’ve played with worse. It’s just a matter of the doctors’ recommendations, whether I listen to them or not, a lot of pain killers, a lot of drugs. We’ll see what I can do.”