By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra is holding its breath as star forward Jamie Malonzo went down with what is feared to be a leg injury he sustained in the final two seconds of the Kings’ 95-88 victory against the NorthPort Batang Pier.
With the game already done and settled, Malonzo slipped on the floor and fell down on his own while trying to go for a dunk.
He had to be carried off the floor after staying on the court for a while after the final buzzer with his teammates gathered around him.
Malonzo said he felt like “someone kicked him” on the leg when he went down with the injury.
It’s still unclear what injury struck Malonzo but head coach Tim Cone feared it would be a calf or Achilles issue. It was also a bad sign that he still had to be carried off the venue and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg.
“We don’t know what exactly it is yet, but he needs to be carried off the floor after the game. He can’t put weight on his leg so we will see what’s going on,” said Cone.
“It looks like a calf or an Achilles issue. Not sure, one or the other. I’m not a doctor so I don’t want to make a prognosis,” he added.
The veteran mentor, however, is keeping his fingers crossed that the injury is nothing serious and would not have Malonzo miss a significant amount of time.
“But we’ll get him to the doctor tomorrow or the day after, see if we can get the swelling down, if there’s any swelling. At this point, he’s gonna be out at least a few days, hopefully it doesn’t stretch into weeks or months,” he added.
Malonzo’s injury was such a huge dampener for the Kings who are now starting to find their groove in the conference with their second straight victory after a roller coaster start.
The 6-foot-7 forward finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of play.
