Christian Standhardinger’s status in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup suddenly went from promising to shaky, no thanks to the knee issues that struck him and forced him to sit on the sidelines for seven long games.
Thankfully, his forced break has come to an end on Saturday.
Standhardinger finally graced the court in the San Miguel Beermen’s semifinal opener against the Alaska Aces. He checked in with 12.9 seconds left in the opening frame, and he got showered with cheers as he went in.
The Filipino-German showed no rust, and he quickly had a huge impact on the second frame. Standhardinger scored all nine of his points in the period alone to help the Beermen hold a 52-41 lead at the half.
“Everybody was so happy,” said San Miguel head coach Leo Austria of Standhardinger’s return.
“Kita mo naman dun sa bench eh dahil we’re expecting him to help a lot dito sa team namin and makikita mo na he’s very eager to play.”
San Miguel went on to win, 92-79, for a 1-0 lead in the race-to-three series.
“It feels good,” expressed the 6-foot-8 forward moments after the match at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, where he also had five rebounds in the 11 minutes he saw action.
“It just felt good to be out there again and yes, it was also exciting.”
Standhardinger has also assured that his left knee has now fully recovered. Given that, the 29-year-old Gilas Pilipinas stalwart has made it known that he’s all set to log in longer minutes for the Beermen, who’s keen on defending their throne.
“I’m one-hundred percent healthy now and I can go however long they wanna play me,” the first overall pick in the 2017 Rookie Draft said.
“They just let me know and I’ll go.”
