‘We never thought we would last’ – Manila Bulletin

Japeth Aguilar was highly touted as lord of the shaded area, as June Mar Fajardo was ruled out of the PBA Philippine Cup bubble.

And the athletic big man Aguilar lived up to the lofty bill, serving as a linchpin in the Barangay Geneva championship race in the historic season held within Smart Clark Giga City.

But it wasn’t an easy task for the 33-year-old, who needed to buckle up to work and regain peak condition after arriving late to the well-contained zone along with fellow veteran LA Tenorio.

Aguilar also had to literally catch his breath, as he was frequently seen using inhalers during time-outs.

“Sometimes LA and I talk. What we experienced was really bad. “We never thought we would stay here long,” said Aguilar, who previously admitted that he was inactive for two months before the season after he was caught violating health protocols by playing a pickup game while Tenorio underwent an appendectomy. .

The six-time PBA champion has only to thank his teammates for keeping the Kings strong while he and Tenorio took time to get back in top form.

Although the two are still on their way back to top form, Geneva managed a 4-0 start to the campaign.

“Great credits to our teammates. They really took a step forward until we gradually got our conditioning, ”Aguilar said.
When the Finals fight between Geneva and TNT came around, Aguilar fully returned to the form that allowed him to obtain the Finals MVP in the 2019 Governor’s Cup.

The Gilas Pilipinas stalwart worked his way to 20.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks throughout the five games of the titluar showdown.

He unleashed his best game in Game Five, exploding with 32 points and nine rebounds to fuel the Kings’ 82-78 victory over Tropang Giga last Wednesday at AUF Arena.

Although he obviously took advantage of the absence of Fajardo, who was still recovering from a knee injury to emerge as the most dominant big man in the bubble, Sasmuan’s pride, Pampanga once again deflected his team’s praise.

“For me, it is not that easy. I really need to work hard to achieve it, ”he said. “Credit to my team too. I don’t show myself the credit because we really are a team. Only chemistry really got us into the championship, from the eliminations and the playoffs. ”

Read: ‘Most Unique’ Bubble Title In PBA History, Says Tim Cone

Looking back on the exhausting and compressed restart of the league that lasted more than two months, the most important thing for Aguilar was to take care of his health for the next season, which is possible to have another bubble format.

“I wanted to be more prepared at the beginning of the (season) if there was a bubble again. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, I will be healthier, more prepared at the beginning of the season.