MANILA, Philippines -- Joe Devance was just in the Philippines for a business trip.
Now, he is handling another type of business – an unfinished one – with Barangay Ginebra.
Devance, who retired from basketball two years ago, suited up for the Gin Kings in Game 1 of their PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinal clash Thursday against the Meralco Bolts, where he played six minutes and had two points. Ginebra won, 99-92.
“My legs are a little heavy, this is the first game I had in two and a half years, but it feels good, it feels great to be out there. I was a little anxious because I didn't know how I was gonna play. To be honest, I'm not in the best of shape,” the 42-year-old told reporters.
“I might look a little bit thinner than I was last time but I just train my kids. I train my basketball program in LA but I'm telling my teammates just give me more time, give me more time, I'm doing everything I can to just try and support them and make their job easier,” he added.
Injuries in the team forced Ginebra to tap Devance once again, who was just in the country for a business trip.
“To be honest, I came out here for business. I came out here just to take care of some things and I went to say hi to Ginebra and soon as I got there, the coaches were like, 'Can you play?' I was like, 'Oh shoot. I mean, I don't know.' And here I am,” he said.
“You know, God works in mysterious ways, I feel like I didn't get the closure I wanted even though I didn't come here for basketball. And Coach Tim [Cone] and Boss Al [Chua] and [Ramon Ang] blessed me with the opportunity to have some closure and some unfinished business and it feels good to be here,” he added.
Ginebra, who traded away big man Christian Standhardinger in the offseason, is still missing size after Isaac Go went down with an injury.
Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray are also out for the Gin Kings, which led to the team going to Japeth Aguilar more in the frontcourt.
For his part, Cone said that Devance “was fantastic” on the floor.
“I thought that he came in and played some really super valuable minutes at times when we're trying to keep, manage Japeth's minutes, and that's been our issue. Once Isaac went down, we didn't have anybody, really, to help us manage his minutes. We're very conscious of overplaying him, of getting him too tired, and he's a freak of nature being able to do the stuff he does at his age,” he said after the game.
“But, hopefully we’re smart enough to know that we gotta be careful with him. So, Joe’s ability to come in and play those six minutes, that’s six minutes Japeth does not have to play,” he added.
Devance connected on his only field goal attempt in the second quarter, a floater off a pick and roll.
“I'm gonna get back in it. The biggest thing that was in my mind was I didn't want to let anybody down. I didn't want to let the coaches down for just having that faith of kinda bringing me up from outta nowhere to play in the playoffs,” he said.
“I didn't want to let the fans down and thankfully we got the win, the guys played big down the stretch so it was a great first game back.”
Game 2 of the series will be on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.