No man is an island.
That was June Mar Fajardo’s mantra in Game Three, despite being the reigning, five-time PBA Most Valuable Player.
Fajardo, the 6-foot-10 giant that he is, admitted he’d been eaten alive by the swarming Magnolia defense that spelled the difference in their close 82-86 Game Three loss in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup Finals series.
The crucial defeat dragged the Beermen into a rare 1-2 series deficit. It also served as a major blow to their mission of copping five straight All Filipino titles.
One glaring factor in that loss was the massive gap in rebounding. The Hotshots buried the Beermen, 71-46 including a 48-24 advantage in offensive glass.
“Kailangan ng rebounding din talaga.
“Nahihirapan din ako rumebound kasi ang daming nagba-box out sa akin. Tina-try ko naman kumuha ng rebound pero ganun nga,” said Fajardo, who wound up to just 17 points and 14 rebounds compared to his 25.5-point and 16.3-rebound average in the first two games.
Though it was not a huge gap in terms of numbers, Fajardo did have a tough time. He only connected on just four of his 11 shots, no thanks to defensive turns from a bevy of Hotshots big men in Ian Sangalang, Kyle Pascual, Rodney Brondial, and Rafi Reavis.
It was worse for Fajardo and the Beermen, too, because his counterparts made it big time on the offensive end.
Sangalang, for his part, racked up 17 points and 10 boards. Meanwhile, the veteran Reavis hauled down 16 markers and 15 boards, which proved to be the major difference in the Hotshots win.
Nevertheless, Fajardo has simply opted to move on to Game Foul of this long All-Filipino conference title series.
“Siguro, maganda yung adjustments nila. Long series ito at kailangan naming mag-adjust.”
