Ginebra's Standhardinger brushes stats aside

MANILA, Philippines -- After another scoring explosion, Barangay Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger is focusing on winning the pivotal Game 5 of their PBA Philippine Cup semis series against Meralco over his stats.

Standhardinger on Sunday waxed hot in the Gin Kings’ 89-84 win over the Bolts, uncorking 34 points, hauling down 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists.

Despite the huge numbers, the Filipino-German big man said that he is more focused on affecting winning more than anything.

“It’s not really about points or rebounds, it’s more about affecting winning. It’s nice to have a bunch of winners around me,” he told reporters after the win.

“I wanna affect winning in as many forms as possible.”

Standhardinger credited his teammates for finding him again and again.

“That’s Ginebra basketball. We try to make each other better. Like I said to management, to Boss Al, Coach Tim, they did a great job of getting character guys that want to pass first,” he said.

“I don’t think we have one unselfish guy in the team and obviously, that helps. As much as I get my teammates involved, they get me involved and we try to make each other better.”

Earlier in the series, Standhardinger erupted for a career-high 41 points, but the Gin Kings lost Game 2, 103-91.

This time, his high-scoring performance translated to a win as he made basket after basket that helped Ginebra erase a 15-point third quarter lead.

He also made the dagger jumper that put away the game for good.

Head coach Tim Cone said that he worked endlessly on his midrange J.

“If you saw us practice, you’ll see how much Christian works on that shot. He works on it all the time and we have faith in it.”

Meanwhile, the big man also tipped his hat to the Meralco defense, who tried its best to shut Standhardinger down.

“I have to give credit to Meralco, too, they’re playing a great season, with Newsome and Cliff, they have two absolute winners that affect winning and that’s just my goal,” he said.

“They’re good. They’re playing solid, they’re strong too. Those are not weak guys. Again, I’m just trying to look at each one of them and find where my advantage lays with each single coverage.”