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BOCAUE — Joe Devance would have liked to mark his return from a foot injury with a victory.
After all, his first game this season was interestingly at Philippine Arena, the site of Ginebra’s 2017 Governors’ Cup triumph last October, and against their Finals foes in Meralco.
But the Bolts had other plans as they came away with an 84-82 win on Sunday night.
“I’m just disappointed that we lost, especially since it’s my first game back,” Devance said.
The most important thing is that Devance is slowly but surely getting himself back to his old form.
“I’m okay. I still have quite a bit to go,” he said after playing for 18 minutes and finishing with four points, three rebounds, and two assists. “I’m just trying to work hard every day. Hopefully when we make the playoffs, I’ll be 100 percent or close to it.”
The Fil-American forward also believes that the same is the case for Ginebra, which now dropped to sixth place with a 5-5 card as he charged this defeat to growing pains — something which could help this young team develop in the long run.
“I think we lost focus on execution and defense. When something like that happens, it just kinda boils down to execution and defense and that’s where we lost our focus,” he said before admitting that the Bolts, which have their backs against the wall, wanted the game more.
“They came out, wanted it more than we did in that fourth quarter and that’s the ball game.”
Devance isn’t losing hope, though, as the Gin Kings only need one win to formalize their entry to the playoffs, something which they could get against Rain or Shine on March 2.
“It’s just the first step though. It’s a part of the process,” he said. “Hopefully we can regroup and get the next game. We shot ourselves in the foot and put ourselves in a bad position, but hopefully we can get this next game and see where we land on the playoffs.”