Barangay Ginebra top gun Mark Caguioa has been declared out for the rest of the KFC PBA Philippine Cup due to a patellar tendon tear on both knees.
Ginebra coach Jong Uichico said Caguioa will be out for almost two months after conferring with the doctors at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, California where the Ginebra guard was undergoing rehabilitation treatment.
“The doctors said Mark’s out for six more weeks. We already ruled out the possibility of Mark playing in this tourney. He may really be back after six weeks but you’ll not take the risk of playing him right away,” said Uichico.
“We’ll just wait for his return in the next conference. Meantime, we’ll try to make do with what we have. Hopefully, we keep on improving and get enough wins to make the playoffs,” Uichico added.
Ginebra topped the Purefoods, 90-80, Sunday in a duel of teams struggling with injury-plagued lineups. The Kings, also missing the services of Junthy Valenzuela and Rafi Reavis, improved their win-loss record to 4-6.
Before getting injured, Caguioa has been Ginebra’s leading scorer the last four seasons. He averaged 19.8 points a game last campaign, finishing third behind James Yap (21.3) and Willie Miller (20.7) in the league scoring ladder.
Reavis, meanwhile, was Ginebra’s leading rebounder and No. 6 in the league with 8.3 boards a game last season. The lanky Fil-Am forward also averaged 6.2 points, 1.3 assists, 0.6 steal and 0.5 block per outing.
Meanwhile, Talk n Text sentinel Macmac Cardona emerged as the hands-down choice as KFC-ACCEL Player of the Week for the period Nov. 12-16 after leading his team to two victories where he came through with an impressive average of 37 points.
Cardona erupted for 32 points as the Tropang Texters walloped the Ginebra Kings, 103-90, on Wednesday.
The former La Salle Archer waxed hotter Sunday, getting away with a career-high 42 points as they whipped Red Bull, 103-93.
He later said he made a determined effort to play well against Red Bull as he’s still hoping to be considered by coach Yeng Guiao for the RP team bound for the Fiba Asia championship next year.
With his 32- and 42-point explosions, Cardona improved his league-leading norm to 26 points a game.