June Mar Fajardo refuses to dwell in the past after San Miguel fell prey to Jayson Castro and TNT in Game One of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
The Beermen lost to a buzzer-beater courtesy of the star playmaker, a shot that remains a hot topic online. Netizens are debating whether or not it should’ve counted, questioning if he was really able to launch the ball on time.
It actually went through a thorough look by the referees, ultimately ruling that it counted. And Fajardo is leaving it to the officials’ judgment.
“‘Yung referee, ‘yung table officials, sila ‘yung nakakaalam eh,” the six-time MVP said moments after their 86-84 loss, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“Kung counted ‘yun, counted ‘yun. Kailangan mag-move on.”
For Fajardo, there remain more important things for San Miguel to address, mainly the way they manage big leads and closing out strong.
The Beermen got off to a good start and even led by as much as 15 points in the second quarter. But apparently, they left all that fire in the dugout during the halftime break, as they lost the lead in the third canto.
Bannering the Tropang Giga retaliation were Mikey Williams and Roger Pogoy. They scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, in that period alone.
Their side exploded for 33 big points to post a 70-64 lead entering the final frame.
“‘Yun ‘yung kailangan i-address namin kasi kapag lumalamang kami ng malaki, biglang nagre-relax ‘yung depensa namin,” Fajardo offered. “Lagi kaming nire-remind ni Coach, kailangan i-work out namin ‘yun.”
SMB still was very much in it, especially in the endgame, but curiously didn’t maximize the opportunities it had. The Beermen had two timeouts left and had the ball with about 28 seconds remaining, but chose not to call one.
Instead, they fed the 6-foot-10 slotman on the low block, but he was too far from the usual space he operates in. He eventually passed the ball to CJ Perez, but it was all too late as the shot clock expired.
“Aware naman,” said Fajardo when asked if San Miguel knew of its remaining timeouts. “Hindi lang natawag. Pero, wala na ‘yun.”
Then again, Fajardo chooses to move forward, with his sights now locked in on Game Two on Wednesday as they aim to even the series.
“Panalo talaga sila. Talo kami. Good thing Game One pa lang ‘yun,” said the Cebuano star, who finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds in the loss.
“May chance pa kaming mag-bounce back.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
