Sol Mercado thinks Paul Lee elbow not on purpose, hopes injury just a bruise

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Sol Mercado has suffered injuries in the most of unfortunate of timings throughout his career.

He once sprained his ankle during the 2017 Governors’ Cup finals and his latest setback could potentially affect Barangay Ginebra’s push for a playoff spot in the Commissioner’s Cup.

Mercado said he suffered a bruised rib after taking an inadvertent elbow from Paul Lee in Ginebra’s game against Magnolia Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“I got elbowed in the rib by Paul, I don’t think he did it on purpose,” said Mercado, who left the game with 5:02 left. “He just swung, and when it happened I had a hard time breathing so I got scared.”

Mercado was initially told to go to the Ginebra locker room immediately after the incident but the pain prevented him from doing so.

Ginebra is in ninth in the standings with a 3-5 record and the team has to win all of its remaining games if it hopes to put up a strong chance of getting to the quarterfinals.

“If you could see it’s kind of like red, black, and blue,” said Mercado, who had four points and three steals. “Hopefully, it’s just a bruise and not anything more than that.”