MANILA, Philippines – Fans who wanted to get a glimpse of Dwight Ramos in action failed to get their wish.
Always the crowd favorite, Ramos rode the bench as Gilas Pilipinas coasted to a 93-54 home rout of Hong Kong to wrap up the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday, November 24.
Head coach Tim Cone later revealed that he opted to sit Ramos out after the star guard sustained a calf injury in the Philippines’ historic win over New Zealand three days prior.
“I wasn’t holding him out for any other reason than the fact that he had pulled his calf muscle in the late stages of the New Zealand game,” said Cone.
“He tried to practice yesterday. He tried to do our shootaround today. 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.”
A regular starter, Ramos surprisingly got dropped from the first five as Calvin Oftana took his spot.
Fans took notice of Ramos’ absence as the game wore on, with the 11,051-strong crowd chanting “We want Dwight!” at several points of the match.
But Ramos, who averages 10.7 points, 5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1 steal in the qualifiers, remained sidelined until the end of the blowout, which allowed the Philippines to hike its record to 4-0 and zero in on an Asia Cup berth.
“I’m like all the girls. I love Dwight. I just love him for different reasons. I love him for his basketball mind and his talent. He’s got an incredible basketball mind,” said Cone.
“The girls like him for his looks. I can’t like him for his looks, but I love him for his brain and basketball brain. So I, more than anybody, want to put him on the floor. I guarantee you that.”
“I would have loved to have played him, but I was under orders from the training staff that he should not play, so I’ve got to do what’s best for him, even though I know the crowd would have loved it.”
Cone, though, admitted he would have risked fielding Ramos if it was against the Tall Blacks, whom the Filipinos beat for the first time on the FIBA stage.
“Obviously, to be honest, I would have pushed him harder to play if we were playing New Zealand, but we felt that we could rest him and be careful with him in this game,” said Cone.
“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.”
Ramos will soon return to the Japan B. League, where he plays for the Levanga Hokkaido. – Rappler.com
