MANILA, Philippines -- A calf injury ruled out Dwight Ramos in Gilas Pilipinas’ win over Hong Kong on Sunday, coach Tim Cone said.
Gilas blasted Hong Kong, 93-54, to sweep the November window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
In the game, Ramos, who usually starts for the Philippines, did not see a minute on the floor. Even during the halftime break, he did not put up shots.
After the game, Cone bared that the guard hurt his calf during the late stages of the Philippines’ historic win over New Zealand a few days back.
“I wasn't holding him out for any other reason from the fact that he had pulled his calf muscle in the late stages of the New Zealand game. He practiced yesterday, tried to practice yesterday. He tried to do our shootaround today,” he told reporters.
“We weren't sure until he came to the game. We said, he's going to try to warm up and see how it was. But he was still feeling pain,” he added.
Cheers of “We want Dwight!” rained over the Nationals during the game.
At one point, Ramos seemed to get off the bench, but it was Mason Amos who entered the contest.
Cone admitted that if the Philippines was playing New Zealand, he would have put the 26-year-old crowd darling into the game.
“And, you know, obviously, to be honest. I would have pushed him harder to play if we were playing New Zealand, you know? But we felt that we could rest him and be careful with him in this game, I thought, and that's best for him because he's got to go back and play in Japan and keep his career going. We didn't want to blow that calf out,” he said.
Cone, however, emphasized that while he would have wanted for Ramos to see the court, the training staff insisted that he should not play.
“I love Dwight. I just love him for different reasons, right? I mean, I love him for his basketball mind and his talent. He's got an incredible basketball mind… I mean, I love him for his brain and basketball brain. And so I, more than anybody, want to put him on the floor. I guarantee you that,” he said.
“I would have loved to have played him, but I was under orders from the training staff that he should not play.”
The coach added that aside from Ramos, Calvin Oftana, who started in the two-guard position on Sunday, is also suffering a calf injury.
He also bared that Brownlee had a calf problem during the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
“So we got to maybe look at what we're doing and maybe figure out that we are not stretching those calves out as much as we should. But that was the reason.”