Cabagnot in decent return, but vows to be better

FILE PHOTO: Alex Cabagnot vs NLEX. PBA IMAGES

Alex Cabagnot rolled up his sleeves and went to work for the first time in nine months on Friday night. Though he was more than decent despite the long inactivity, he headed home thinking of way to improve himself and help his team.

“We didn’t pull off the victory. That’s what [I’m] thinking about. Sayang,” he said on the heels of Terrafirma’s 124-110 loss to Converge at the newly-refurbished PhilSports Arena in Pasig City where he had 13 points, eight assists and four rebounds in nearly 40 minutes.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board. Hopefully, we can have a better showing,” said Cabagnot, referring to a clash with powerhouse Magnolia at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.

With a heel injury keeping him out of action for a third of the year, Cabagnot performed like the backcourt ace that he once was with the vaunted San Miguel Beer crew.

But he isn’t satisfied and vowed to do everything to help the Dyip snap a slide that dates back to their winless Philippine Cup campaign.

“(My conditioning) is good. It’s getting there,” he said. “It’s still a continuous process, so hopefully, I could see it through.”

Hunt for respect

Lester Prosper scored 43 points and had 25 rebounds, but the Dyip were out of it against the FiberXers in the second half with only three locals scoring in twin digits.

Cabagnot getting back in the groove is something that Terrafirma could use if it is to at least gain respect from the field here.

And the many-time All-Star definitely has his eyes set on that.

“I felt decent for not playing for nine months. But obviously, the (game) film is going to tell me the real story,” Cabagnot said. “I’m going definitely dissect the film and see how I played.”