Jeremiah Gray savors return after long layoff
At A Glance
- Barangay Ginebra guard Jeremiah Gray tried the best he could to contain his excitement but couldn't help but let out a little smile as he finally set foot on the court after a long 18-month wait.
Barangay Ginebra guard Jeremiah Gray tried the best he could to contain his excitement but couldn’t help but let out a little smile as he finally set foot on the court after a long 18-month wait.
Gray went down with an ACL injury during Ginebra’s last game in the PBA on Tour and it took him one and a half year of an up-and-down recovery before he could finally play again.
“It feels really good to be back out on the floor. I tried not to smile when I was out there, but I was just really happy,” said Gray who played like he never sat out for quite a while after finishing with six points in just nine minutes in Game 2 of their semis series against NorthPort.
“I feel very blessed to be back out on that floor after being gone for 18 months. It feels very good to be there,” he added.
With the long and grueling road to recovery now behind him, Gray was just thankful to be able to return to play basketball after what he deemed to be the toughest thing he had to go through.
“I feel like I was playing really good basketball coming off my other ACL injury, leading up into the end of the On Tour and then blowing out my knee in the last game really was very devastating to me,” Gray recalled.
Getting back to the pink of health was not easy according to Gray since he also experienced setbacks with his recovery along the way but he believed the experience has taught him to keep his faith amid the doubts.
“The process was not a smooth process at all. My rehab was just very up and down. There were times where I felt really good and then there were days where I just felt like I might never be able to run again,” said Gray.
“But it made my faith very strong in the Lord and it just made me stronger at the end of the day. But that was definitely one of the toughest situations I've been in in my life for sure,” he added.
While fully healthy, the focus now for Gray is to get back into game shape and play like he used to for the Kings during the On Tour.
“Right now, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not in the best shape, like game shape right now. But as these games keep going on, if a coach finds some time for me to get in the rotation, I could definitely get back in shape and feel good in the next few games hopefully,” he added.