Hurting Aguilar hoping to come back for semis Game 2

Barangay Ginebra may very well fight through the semifinals without one of its key contributors.

Power forward Japeth Aguilar sat out Game 1 against Rain or Shine after suffering from a sore left Achilles but he remains positive that he can join the Gin Kings for the remaining games.

“Hopefully I can come back, because there are still a lot of games to be played,” said Aguilar after Ginebra’s 102-89 win Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “I hope I can come back by Game 2.”

Aguilar averaged 17 points, 6.91 rebounds, and 1.91 blocks after he got hurt in Game 2 of the quarterfinals against Meralco.

Fortunately for Ginebra, center Greg Slaughter was able to pick up the slack putting up 20 points and pulling down six rebounds against the Elasto Painters.

“Japeth is a real big part of everything,” said Slaughter. “It’s a big blow, but we’re hoping he could come back the next game and hopefully it’s not too bad and he can join us this series.”

Ginebra head coach Tim Cone, however, don’t have a similar outlook as both of his players.

Cone is more careful regarding Aguilar’s injury and he would rather have his forward take some rest to avoid bigger problems.

“One is that we make sure he plays in this series, we don’t want him to play one game and miss all the rest,” said Cone. “We’d rather he miss one game and play all the rest and also he’s a national team player. We want to make sure he stays healthy.”