Hong Kong Eastern have more to worry about despite clinching a spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals at the expense of hapless Terra Firma.
The guest team’s 134-110 victory at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City was not reflective of how the game played out, even though Eastern was reeling from its opening loss. was brought in after losing import player Chris McLaughlin to injury. A semifinal series back home.
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“I think it’s going to be a tough situation for us, especially if Chris’ injury is serious,” Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic said.
After a tough week here in the East Asian Super League that started with a win over San Miguel Beer, Eastern improved to 7 wins and 3 losses, drawing Converge with Northport, who also have a spot in the quarterfinals.
Now, Eastern will wait to see if McLaughlin’s ankle injury sustained in the first half while going for a dunk with Terrafirma’s Kemarc Cariño will force Bajramovic to switch to Cameron Clark.
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Eastern needs to win all of its remaining two games to have a chance to earn the privilege of two wins and earn a top two spot, but the fact that McLaughlin won’t be available if he rests could speak to that. There is sex.
Clark is an integral part of Eastern’s conference opener, and McLaughlin will miss the remainder of the tournament even if he is replaced due to injury.
McLaughlin entered the game with impressive numbers of 24.8 points, 18.4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.8 blocks, in addition to his commanding presence inside and ability to shoot outside.
It was McLaughlin’s sixth game in the PBA after Clark appeared in Eastern’s first four games, averaging 32.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 blocks.
“Both players have different styles,” the Eastern coach said. “With Chris there’s one style and with Clark there’s another style. But they’re both great players and we both have good reads. So let’s see. .”
Eastern will return home to prepare for the second semi-final of the Hong Kong A1 Championship against Winlin.
Lost 0-1 at home
Winring took advantage of the fact that Eastern was not at full strength, playing only half of its squad and leaving the rest in Manila for the match against Terra Firma, and pitched the best-of-three opening game of that series to 88-8. I won with 65.
Stephen Guinchard’s 20 points (five triples and one 4-pointer) sparked Eastern’s victory without McLaughlin, while Ramon Cao had 23 points and Kobei Lam added 20 points. Eastern’s next PBA game is against Magnolia on January 26th, and they will play before that. NLEX in 3 days.
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Terra Firma’s record dropped to 0-11 with games remaining, putting them on the brink of ending a miserable conference without a win.
Import Brandon Edwards had 26 points and 17 rebounds for the junior dip.
