Ginebra’s Joe Devance. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Playing like a mad man, Joe Devance fought through his plantar fasciitis injury on his left foot and gave it his all for Ginebra in Game 4.
“I feel good. My foot wasn’t bothering me that much. The way we were playing kind of helped me save my legs. I didn’t have to battle June Mar (Fajardo) as much,” he said.
Pouring 14 of his 22 points in the third quarter, the veteran forward was the anchor of the Gin Kings’ fightback in the period.
Despite his best efforts, though, Ginebra can’t complete the comeback and lost a 94-85 decision on Friday to fall 1-3 in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
But there’s still a lot of reason for Devance to feel optimistic.
His Game 4 performance only affirms his belief that things are about to turn for the positive for Ginebra as he refuses to be disheartened thinking that his condition could only get better from here.
“I had a shot about 45 minutes before the game. It’s getting better, but it still wasn’t good enough,” said Devance, who has continued taking IV shots prior to the game, . “Again, I’ll keep on getting shots until Game 7.”
But for the Gin Kings to stage such comeback, Devance said that the team has to be more than ready to rise to the occasion.
“It’s been done. We can’t go here with our heads down. It’s not over. They still need a game to win, so we got to fight for it,” he said. “We know how to play with our backs against the wall. We just got to come out here and fight. We just got to take it game-by-game.”
And Devance is confident that Ginebra can weather the storm starting on Sunday.
“We’re going to get it done. We got to have faith. We are never say die so we’ll live up to that and fight until the last second of the series.”