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| Dwight Ramos was forced to sit out against Hong Kong due to a calf injury. FIBA |
PASAY--Coach Tim Cone confirmed on Sunday night that Dwight Ramos had to sit out Gilas Pilipinas' Sunday night game against Hong Kong due to a calf injury.
Cone, however, acknowledged the fans' loud call inside the SM Mall of Asia Arena to have the combo guard get some playing time in Gilas' 39-point win, one of them even telling the PBA's winningest coach to let him in from up close.
"I remember there was a fan in the front row along the basket. I told him, 'He was injured. I can't play him,' and he still kept saying, 'We want Dwight!'" Cone said after the game.
He even said returning Gilas team manager Alfrancis Chua pleaded to give Ramos some playing time.
"I would have loved to have played him, but I was under orders from the training staff that he should not play. So I got to do what's best for him even though I know the crowd would have loved to. Even Alfrancis Chua suggested, 'Won't we just put him for 30 seconds and he can just stand in the corner of the court?' and I go, 'I don't know if that'll work,' so I didn't do that," Cone continued.
He then revealed, "He had pulled his calf muscle in the late stages of the New Zealand game. He tried to practice yesterday. He tried to do our shootaround today. We weren't sure until he came to the game. He said he's going to warm up and see how it was, but he was still feeling pain."
The coaching staff ruled that giving Ramos the night off was the best thing to do especially since he has to play again next weekend for Levanga Hokkaido as the Japan B.League returns to action.
"We felt that we could rest him and be careful with him in this game, and that's best for him 'coz he's got to go back and play in Japan and keep his career going. We didn't want to blow that calf," Cone further said.
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