Christian Standhardinger’s didn’t quite make his presence felt during the San Miguel Beermen’s run in the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup elimination round. He averaged just 7.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in the 10 games he played.
But on Saturday, in Game One of their semifinal clash versus the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, he was in his element.
Standhardinger produced a conference-high 20 points on an excellent 8-of-10 shooting from the field. He also had eight rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 27 minutes of play to help the Beermen come out victorious, 111-105.
And the Beermen needed a performance like that, since Rain or Shine limited San Miguel main man June Mar Fajardo to just nine points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field alongside one rebound.
Yes – the five-time MVP only had one rebound.
“I’m lucky to have a lot of big men like Christian Standhardinger who played really well on defense, and his hustle is hindi mo mapapalitan.
“I think that’s one thing na nagbigay ng panalo sa’min,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria.
Still, the 30-year-old finds satisfaction not with his numbers, but with how he fulfilled his job.
“You know it’s not about the points. I’m just trying to do my job, and I’m happy that I was able to be efficient for my team today,” said Standhardinger, who had a plus-minus rating of plus-20 in the win.
“And, we got the victory.”
Moreoever, Standhardinger is proud of the Beermen’s fighting spirit. They fell behind at the start, 20-7, and trailed for most of the way before regaining their bearings late in the third to snatch the win.
“We played catch-up basketball but we kept fighting,” said the Fil-German forward, who gave SMB their first taste of the lead, 74-71, with 3:52 to go in the third chapter. “I’m happy that at the end of the day, we got victorious.”
The Beermen now have the 1-0 lead in the race-to-three series following the win. But while they’re happy to draw first blood, Standhardinger said that they can’t afford to get comfortable, as the series is not yet over.
“We just gotta keep going hard. You can’t get comfortable. We gotta just keep working hard and play hard.”
