Finals woes

Ordered to stay away from Magnolia’s practices by team physicians pending the evaluation of his hamstring injury, Romeo Travis’ continued stint with the Hotshots will depend largely on what the hardworking import tells the coaching staff later in the week.

The team’s physical therapist has grounded Travis, instructing the import to keep his injured leg still, until the next tests so they could determine the extent of the injury. The coaching staff earlier admitted contacting a potential replacement for Travis in former La Salle player Ben Mbala had Magnolia’s Final Four series with Barangay Ginebra gone the distance.

Coach Chito Victolero said there’s no replacement waiting in the wings anymore, with the tournament taking a two-week break.

Everything now depends on how Travis feels in the coming days.

“If he (Travis) tells me that he can play, then I will take his word for it,” Victolero said Monday. “It will be up to him, like in Game 4 (of the semifinals) when he told us that he could play and we didn’t need to replace him.”

Travis erupted for a PBA career-high 50 points in the series-clincher over the Gin Kings on Friday, doing it on one good leg. He later admitted in an interview that he wouldn’t have been able to play had the series gone to a decider.

Alaska is also not spared of the injury bug, with guards Chris Banchero and JV Casio also sore after a grueling four-game series against Meralco.

Meanwhile, the Philippine team clashed with Jordan at Meralco gym in Pasig on Monday in the first of a series of tune-up games as part of the Filipino’ preparation for the fifth window of the Fiba World Cup 2019 Asia qualifiers.