MANILA, Philippines – June Mar Fajardo is without a doubt the biggest reason why San Miguel is closing in on another finals appearance.
The seven-time PBA Most Valuable Player averaged 23.3 points, 14.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in the Beermen’s three playoff wins that included two victories in the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinals.
San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent said there is an effort to turn to Fajardo at this stretch of the tournament, being the strength of the Beermen offense. The good thing about Fajardo as well is, aside from his scoring, he doesn’t hesitate to also give up the ball to an open teammate.
“We have to take advantage of what we have. We have June Mar so we have to take advantage of him and we have to evolve through him. He is doing great making his teammates better,” said Gallent.
Fajardo’s performance earned him the PBA Press Corps-Pilipinas Live Player of the Week for the period May 15-19. Fajardo earned the nod of reporters from broadsheet, tabloid and online covering the PBA beat, beating the likes of Meralco’s Chris Newsome, and Barangay Ginebra’s Stanley Pringle and Christian Standhardinger.
“Hinahanap kasi ako ng mga teammates ko. Sinabihan din ako ni coach na kailangan ko piliin ‘yung opensa. Hinahanap ako ng teammates ko, kailangan ko mag-produce,” Fajardo said.
Fajardo opened the week by guiding San Miguel to a semifinal berth, finishing with 25 points and 22 rebounds in the Beermen’s 110-91 win over Terrafirma in their knockout quarterfinal clash.
Domination has been the word that can be described in Fajardo’s play in the semifinals, averaging 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the 101-98 and 106-89 wins of San Miguel over Rain or Shine in the best-of-seven semifinal series.
The bulk of the points of Fajardo came in the third quarter of Games 1 and 2 and it was there where the Beermen were able to pull away from the Elasto Painters.
“Ang feeling ko, no one can stop him inside the paint. That’s what we did in the third quarter,” said Gallent.