Reyes laments bol’s exit

TNT head coach Chot Reyes knows the huge hole his team has to fill after being forced to trim celebrated import Bol Bol from the defending champion’s active roster due to a partial Achilles’ tear.

The 7-foot-3 reinforcement sustained a conference-ending injury in Game 2 that ended in a double blackeye following a tough loss to Meralco that tied the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.

All Reyes and the Tropang 5G could do now is move on and hope for the best with recently naturalized Malick Diouf as emergency replacement for the rest of the best-of-seven series.

“That’s basketball. That’s sports. That’s part of the game. Injuries are part of the game and there’s nothing we can do about that except to do our best and just cope with it,” said Reyes after TNT’s 76-87 defeat Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The leading Best Import candidate and TNT’s most lethal weapon in the mid-season import-laden tournament sustained the injury with 2:37 left in the opening period, with his team up by seven.

Bol was driving hard to the hoop over defenders Marvin Jones and Javee Mocon when he hurt his left ankle. Grimacing in pain, he was carried off the court and brought back to their dugout.

He was eventually carted to an ambulance and rushed to the hospital to assess the extent of his injury.

The South Sudanese exited the game with 10 points, six rebounds and one block in 9:21 minutes of action for TNT.

“Sayang (Too bad), we were leading when Bol got injured. (But) that’s basketball. That’s life,” Reyes said.

TNT lost a huge chunk of its stats filler when Bol exited the tournament, averaging 35.8 points, 13.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.

The import guided the No. 8-seeded Tropang 5G into the semis by surviving the twice-to-beat top-ranked NLEX in the quarterfinals.

Aside from Bol, TNT is already dealing with veteran guard Jayson Castro nursing a knee injury and big man Henry Galinato out due to an illness.

Castro, who hurt his knee in Game 1, was in uniform in Game 2 but sat out the game while Galinato skipped the match after feeling under the weather.

“I thought we played well enough. But then, without Bol, without Castro, without Galinato, it was too hard,” Reyes said.

“Very proud of the work of the guys. We’re just short-handed. We not only lost an import but also two key players.”

Reyes is crossing his fingers that Castro will be good to go for Game 3 on Sunday, while Galinato will need clearance from the team doctors to rejoin the squad.