MANILA, Philippines—Raymond Almazan’s heart alone could take him far, but not to the PBA Governors’ Cup title.
Without the injured Almazan, Meralco crumbled against Barangay Ginebra, 105-93, in Game 5 of the finals on Friday and lose its title shot again.
Despite the PBA Finals heartbreak, Almazan vowed to come back stronger to help the Bolts.
“I’ll come back stronger, it happened and we really can’t blame anyone else,” said Almazan in Filipino. “I can’t go back to the past, we just have to look forward in the upcoming games of the All-Filipino and come back stronger.”
Almazan averaged 12.25 points and 8.3 rebounds in the four games. He only had two points and two boards in Game 3 where he suffered a meniscal tear in his left knee in the first quarter.
With the PBA set to take a break, Almazan said he’s about to undergo surgery in a week or so.
“I’m ready to go back to conditioning, to get stronger,” said Almazan, who estimates that a six-week recovery period will be needed. “This is my focus right now, when I heard that I won’t be able to play I quickly asked our PT [physical therapist] when I can have surgery.”
“It hurts that I wasn’t able to help the team, but at the same time I’m using this injury as motivation to get back stronger.”