Austria admitted he didn’t initially know that AZ Reid was nursing a foot injury

SAN Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria admitted he didn’t initially know that AZ Reid was nursing a foot injury in their PBA Governors’ Cup game against GlobalPort, prompting him to keep using the prolific import extensively in the road game in Antipolo on Friday night.

Reid said he is facing the possibility of missing games after revealing he played through an injured Achilles heel that left him underperforming, particularly on defense, against the Batang Pier.

“Nagkaroon kami ng miscoummunication dahil hindi nasabi sa akin right away na mayroon siyang injury,” Austria admitted in a call he made to Spin.ph late Friday night to apologize that he declined, albeit politely, an interview to a couple of scribes at the Ynares Center.

Austria fielded Reid, who came in averaging 44.3 minutes in his first five games, for almost 41 minutes in their 98-92 loss to the Batang Pier.

“He never told me that na ganun ka-seryoso,” the SMB coach said of Reid’s injury. “Minsan nagbibiruan kami na sinasabi niya na hindi ako maglalaro, tapos pagdating ng game, siya yung napaka-gandang laro. So parang sanay na ako.”

“Ako naman, pag nakita kong nagbihis sila at naglaro, ina-assume ko that they are healthy,” he added.

Reid did manage to score 41 points, but Austria felt the two-time Best Import’s defense was lacking. -spin.ph

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