Winning one PBA Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award is already a challenge, but June Mar Fajardo has been making it look so easy.
The league’s only 8-time MVP has grown his record collection to a dozen now after earning top honors of the Season 49 Philippine Cup on Sunday.
He earned the nod after bannering San Miguel’s redemption story after a disappointing run in the recent Commissioner’s Cup, where they failed to get past the elimination round — a first since the 2015 edition of the same tilt.
Fajardo bested teammate CJ Perez, NLEX main man Robert Bolick, Jason Perkins of Phoenix, and Magnolia young gun Zavier Lucero for the plum.
He won the coveted award via landslide, garnering a total of 1,085 points from stats (489) and votes from the media (505) and players (91).
Perez placed second with 704 points, followed by his good pal Bolick with 562. Lucero received 469 points, while Perkins placed fifth with 441.
Motivated to do better for the proud club, Fajardo stayed and finished at No.1 in the statistical points (SPs) race by semifinals’ end with 39.6 to his name.
(C) PBA Images
He actually had 40.4 SPs after the eliminations, averaging 17.5 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists as he led SMB to the top seed, giving themselves a win-once quarterfinal incentive, which they maximized versus Meralco.
Fajardo, though, would miss some games in their best-of-7 semis series versus Ginebra due to a calf injury. But that hardly mattered as he managed to put up solid stats, still, to help the Beermen oust the Kings to return to the Finals.
By semis’ end, the Cebuano star remained on top of the SPs battle behind his 16.0 points, a league-best 13.95 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.1 blocks.
Presently, the 35-year-old slotman is averaging 25.3 points and 11.6 rebounds in the championship bout against long-time corporate rivals TNT.
That included a 33-point, 11-rebound showing in Game 3 last Friday as he headlined their 108-88 victory toward a 2-1 lead in the race-to-4 series.
| Player | Stats | Media | Players | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June Mar FAJARDO | 489 | 505 | 91 (20-2-1) | 1085 |
| CJ PEREZ | 437 | 239 | 28 (1-10-3) | 704 |
| Robert BOLICK | 453 | 86 | 23 (1-8-2) | 562 |
| Zavier LUCERO | 435 | 9 | 15 (1-2-9) | 459 |
| Jayson PERKINS | 436 | 2 | 3 (0-0-4) | 441 |
