In an unfortunate development, reigning back to back PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo will most likely be out of the best-of-seven Philippine Cup finals, according to San Miguel head coach Leo Austria.
“I don’t have the official results of his examination but most likely he can’t play in the series,” Austria said Saturday morning.
Fajardo injured his left knee as it buckled after a rebound play midway in the third quarter of San Miguel’s Game 6 encounter with Rain or Shine last Friday night.
The big man had to be stretchered off the hardcourt and was taken to a medical facility later that night.
The Beermen eventually won, 90-82 behind Marcio Lassiter’s 22 points and Arwind Santos’ 15 points to end the series 4-2 and advance to the finals against the Alaska Aces.
Fajardo averaged 31.3 PPG, 15.7 RPG, and 2.7 BPG in the semi-finals series in over 37 minutes logged per game.
As of publishing time, the extent of the injury is yet to be known. Austria added speculation regarding a partial ACL tear is not true.
“That’s not true,” Austria said.
Fajardo’s girlfriend Aerieal Patnongon also tweeted out earlier there is no official announcement yet from the San Miguel side.
https://twitter.com/iamaeriealituh/status/688183338062893058
Video courtesy of Sports5
