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JAPETH Aguilar played extended minutes for Barangay Ginebra on Sunday in a landslide victory over Meralco for a reason.
With the outcome of the game almost resolved, Aguilar stayed in the game well into the fourth quarter of the Gin Kings’ 105-91 victory over Meralco. He finished with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field.
Aguilar was visibly groping in shape in recent games after being late in the bubble as he recovered from injury, but he appears to be slowly regaining his former form, scoring on dunks and blocking shots in the win.
Before Meralco’s game, Aguilar averaged 9.0 points and 4.5 rebounds, decent numbers but far from his Finals MVP-worthy stats during the Gin Kings’ win over the Bolts last January in the Governor’s Cup Finals in the United States. PBA.
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Geneva coach Tim Cone said he made an effort to play Aguilar more minutes so he could make up time for the bigger battles to come.
“Even though we had a big margin, I was not eliminating Japeth. That’s unusual for me, but I saw it as a purpose for him to stay on the floor and keep working. Hopefully that will make it better for the next game, ”Cone said.
“I left Japeth out there the whole time just to get him in shape. I kept telling him, ‘No, you’re going to stay there. You have to go up and down, ‘”Cone added.
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With the schedule compressed inside the bubble, Cone pointed out the importance of taking the opportunity to play Aguilar more minutes.
“We don’t really have time to get in shape by exercising because the games come so fast that we could really play with him. Japeth has to get himself in shape, ”Cone said.
