For the first time in his young PBA career, Christian Standhardinger sat out a game. The San Miguel rookie did not play because he had knee soreness.
“Because of his patellofemoral pain syndrome, at saka ‘yung ITB — tightness of ITB. ITB is a muscle around the knee,” disclosed San Miguel head coach Leo Austria.
“After going up and down, nagkaroon ng inflammation around the knee. There’s a fluid sa joint niya, and we’re able to extract it [last Saturday], I think 65-cc of fluid. The doctor advised him to rest for two days, and we will see on Monday if he can start practicing,” he added.
The first overall pick in the 2017 Rookie Draft, who is averaging 15.25 points and 8.25 rebounds, is hardly worried about his injury. The 28-year-old Filipino-German cager shared that he only needs a couple days of rest before he can get back to the court.
“I just cant worry about that. I go hard. I do what I’m supposed to do to get stronger and be fine,” he said.
With this, Standhardinger needed to stay busy on the sidelines. And he had an idea.
Prior to the game, the 6-foot-8 big man headed to the press room of the SM Mall of Asia Arena looking for an SD card for his camera. Standhardinger, who has his own Youtube channel, planned to do a video blog of the game itself.
Once one photographer let him borrow his memory card, Standhardinger was ecstatic. He could now start his new log.
All throughout the game, Standhardinger documented the contest from the bench.
It will take a few days for him to edit and publish the video. And it will be a good one, as fans can get a glimpse of the raw emotion of the players from the sidelines.
