Prior to Wednesday night, the only time June Mar Fajardo had gone scoreless was back in March 1 of 2013. During that game — which saw the San Miguel Beermen win 60-53 over the Air 21 Express — the then-rookie went 0-for-4 from the field in 18 minutes of action.
Lightning struck twice on Wednesday night, though, as for the second time in his career, the three-time Most Valuable Player ended up scoreless in just eight minutes and 58 seconds of action against the Mahindra Floodbuster.
But unlike during his first scoreless game, the Pinamungajan, Cebu native did not need to score — nor even be fielded in the second half — as San Miguel cruised to a 109-80 win over Mahindra to go to 4-0.
“Basta. Maganda naman nilaro nung team eh,” the 27-year-old, who was at Gilas’ practice last night, quipped after the game.
“Malakas yung teammates ko eh, so kaya naming manalo,” he proudly added, as the Beermen had shot a blistering 45 percent from the field in the game.
Prior to this game, Fajardo had been averaging 19.8 minutes this conference, putting up norms of 19.6 points and 14.8 rebounds. But with the 6-foot-11 big man pulling double-duty for the Beermen and Gilas Pilipinas, head coach Leo Austria deems that they need to grab every opportunity of resting Fajardo.
“June Mar kailangan namin i-rest, medyo bugbog siya. Alam naman natin the past few conferences ay talagang bugbog siya. Ngayon, nagkaroon siya ng opportunity na magpahinga,” the four-time champion coach remarked as Fajardo played a total of 24 games last conference.
“He’s been practicing with us and with Gilas so we want to prepare him for bigger games, especially dito sa SEABA, kailangan paghandaan niya.”
Moreover, Austria added that the five-time Best Player of the Conference had not been feeling well prior to the game. Fajardo downplayed it, however, saying, “Wala, wala namang sakit.”
Instead, Fajardo simply relished this day off before they face the heavyweights of the league, starting Saturday against Rain or Shine.
“Malaking bagay ‘to para sa akin,” the Gilas Pilipinas anchor declared.
