Caguioa hoping against hope that knee injury not as bad as the last time

“I said, ‘Oh no, not again’ when I was lying on the floor,” recalls Mark Caguioa of the injury which team doctors suspect is an MCL sprain on his right knee. Jerome Ascano

GINEBRA superstar Mark Caguioa is hoping his injured right knee won’t keep him out for a long period of time.

The 6-foot-2 guard walked gingerly out of the Kings’ dugout at the Mall of Asia Arena moments after Ginebra’s season came to an end following a 101-94 loss to sister-team Petron in their PBA Governors Cup quarterfinal playoffs Thursday night.

Team doctors feared the reigning league Most Valuable Player may have suffered a sprained MCL (medial colateral ligament) on his right knee after landing awkwardly while emerging from a baseline cut just as he was about to take a pass from backcourt mate Jayjay Helterbrand.

Caguioa also suffered the same injury on his left knee midway through the double-round eliminations of the Commissioner’s Cup last March that kept him out of action for quite some time.

[For full story, see Caguioa rues 'bad timing' of injury as docs confirm Grade 1 MCL sprain]

He came back and played sparingly during the best-of-five Finals against Alaska, but the Aces went on to sweep the Kings, 3-0.

“I said, ‘Oh no, not again’ when I was lying on the floor,” recalled Caguioa of what went through his mind during the moment. “I don’t know how many months I was out the last time, pero matagal siya till I got better.”

Caguioa finished the Kings’ last game of the season by scoring four points in 12 minutes of action. He left  the match for good at the 8:15 mark of the second period with Ginebra trailing, 28-33.

“Now, I just got to pray and hopefully heal fast. And so by tomorrow (Friday), I’ve got to go see Dr. (Raul) Canlas. Then stay here muna because we’re only given a week off then go back to work uli,” he said.