MANILA, Philippines – Mo Tautuaa allayed fears of injury after suffering a scary fall late in NorthPort’s 109-83 shellacking of TNT in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday, March 24.

The 6-foot-8 slotman writhed in pain on the floor when he was undercut by Yousef Taha right after converting a bucket with 2:25 minutes left. 

After missing the bonus free throw, Tautuaa was immediately assisted back to the bench and did not return to the court again. 

But Tautuaa looked just as healthy as before as he walked out of the locker room by himself. 

“My back, it’s okay. I mean, I work out a lot so I got a good enough butt to take the fall,” he said. “Let’s hope, because right now it’s okay.”

“It hurt when it happened but right now it’s starting to feel a little better. I feel good but only time will tell.” 

Taha, for his part, stressed he had no intentions to do harm against Tautuaa. 

“That was an accident. I didn’t try to hurt him. I wouldn’t try to hurt anybody. I tried to get out of the way but he was already coming. If you watched the video, I tried to get out the way but he bumped me and he fell.” 

Interestingly, Taha and Tautuaa were traded for each other in the blockbuster deal that sent Terrence Romeo from NorthPort to TNT just before the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup. 

Having no chance to air his side to Tautuaa, Taha assured he will talk to him when they meet. 

“It wasn’t intentional. I never try to hurt anybody. I’m not a dirty player,” Taha added.

What matters now for Tautuaa is that NorthPort remained in the playoff hunt at 3-6 after snapping a six-game skid. 

“That’s the team we want to be, we keep preaching about it and we finally did it today. It gives us hope because now we know we can do it,” Tautuaa said. 

NorthPort seeks to make it two wins in a row as it tangles with Alaska on Wednesday, March 27, at the Araneta Coliseum. – Rappler.com