SAVED for some minor issues, Magnolia is high on its PBA Governors' Cup campaign once games resume on Feb. 11 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Coach Chito Victolero disclosed Paul Lee has now fully recovered from a knee injury, while veteran big man Rafi Reavis just rejoined the team following his arrival from the US first week of January.
But at the same time, injuries slowed down sophomore Aris Dionisio and rookie James Laput.
Dionisio has just began joining the Hotshots in their scrimmages, which the same can't be said of Laput.
"Hindi naman major injuries, pero sana before the games, ma-complete kami," said Victolero in his appearance in the weekly sports program The Chasedown.
But the good outweighs the bad as the Magnolia coach welcomed a fit-again Lee and the return of the 44-year-old Reavis, who has yet to play for the team this conference.
Lee is now fully healed from the knee injury he suffered during the Hotshots' last outing against Barangay Ginebra Kings on Christmas Day, while Reavis finally had himself vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to his arrival here.
"Malaking tulong yung break kasi gumaling yung mga may injuries sa amin," added Victolero, referring to the month-long disruption the league underwent following the spike of COVID cases shortly after the holidays.
As for Reavis, he began to join the Hotshots again in both individual and team workouts.
Despite those issues, Magnolia is off to a hot start in the season-ending meet after going unbeaten in its first three games to take the solo lead.
Victolero hopes to sustain their drive and avoid the same dilemma the Hotshots faced during the Philippine Cup when they also had a strong start only to struggle following the resumption of the tournament after a similar long break due to COVID cases.
"We just try to learn from the mistake na nakuha namin last conference, when we also have the same start, and then pagpunta namin ng (Bacolor) bubble, hindi namin nakuha yung timing namin," he said.
"We learned from that, and hopefully yung mga players ganun din." (RG) (PBA)