Babawi kami
Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo and the two-time defending Philippine Cup champions, San Miguel Beermen are back in a familiar territory.
Thursday night was a struggle for the Beermen as the TNT Katropa ran past them to take a 101-94 Game Five win. What’s more painful was that it sent San Miguel to a 2-3 series deficit.
The Beermen struggled to keep pace with TNT during the game as they controlled the tempo, scoring 15 fastbreak points while forcing San Miguel to commit 17 turnovers that led to 27 points.
Fajardo himself faced various double, and even triple teams, in the contest that helped limit him to just eight shot attempts — 3.75 attempts below his series norms.
During the first four games of the series, the 27-year-old Cebuano posted averages of 19.25 points on 63.83 percent shooting from the field and 62.96 percent from the stripe while gobbling up 10.75 rebounds. In this game however, Fajardo was limited to just 13 points on a 5-of-8 shooting clip, 3-of-6 from the stripe.
“Ganda ng depensa nila sa akin,” admitted the five-year league veteran.
“Maganda depensa nila sakin. Alam na alam nila pano ako depensahan.”
Though their mood clearly down after suffering from this loss, the San Miguel lifer knows that they need to wake up tomorrow morning with no regrets. It’s literally win or go home for the defending champions.
“Regroup kami bukas. Kailangan namin i-work out pano kami makaka-bounce back,” he vowed.
“Di pa naman tapos yan. Babawi kami!”
