The much awaited PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup quarterfinals showdown between the Meralco Bolts and Barangay Ginebra on 26 September, Thursday, is expected to have a lot of drama, emotion, intensity and history.
Aside from the 4th duel between Allen Durham and Justin Brownlee, the match will also highlight the come back of Joe Devance from retirement. The all-around baller has joined Barangay Ginebra in time for its playoff run.
A league memo stated that Devance has been activated from the roster in lieu of rookie Paul Garcia, who has been relegated to the team's unrestricted free agent with rights to salary list.
Devance comes back after announcing his retirement in June 2022.
Now 42, Devance is returning with Barangay Ginebra depleted in the frontcourt with Isaac Go suffering an injury during the eliminations.
Ginebra is also still without Jamie Malonzo and Jeremiah Gray for the coming playoff run.
"We’ve been looking around for a big man ever since Isaac went down with his injury and Joe’s sudden return to Manila was fortuitous," said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
"We put him through some workouts to check his conditioning, and although he’ll need some more build-up, we think he can contribute right away," he went on.
Meralco also made sme adjustment by activating Allein Maliksi. His return forces Norbert Torres to be dropped from the regular lineup as the Bolts aim to strengthen their playoff campaign.
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