Christian Standhardinger has no issue with the coaches’ decision to bench him in the fourth quarter of Ginebra’s eventual loss to Terrafirma on Sunday night.
The two-time BPC understands the choice made by lead assistant Richard del Rosario to go with Japeth Aguilar and Sidney Onwubere for much of the final frame as the Kings were trying to mount a comeback against the Dyip.
Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t enough, eventually absorbing a 91-86 defeat for their third loss in a row in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup.
“There’s nothing much I can do, as a player you just do it,” Standhardinger said moments after emerging from the team’s dugout at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“But Coach Richard decided to go with Sidney and Japeth and they both had a great fourth quarter. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t make it to the victory.”
Asked about the matter, Del Rosario said that the coaching staff’s decision was to go with players that could provide more energy like Onwubere, who fell just short of a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.
The veteran mentor made it clear, too, that they have nothing against the Fil-German bruiser, who had 21 points and seven rebounds.
“We needed more energy din… Christian was, you know, scoring, but ‘yung mga guys na pinasok namin made the run eh. So we stayed with those guys. Nothing against Christian, we just stayed with those guys,” he said.
Del Rosario also pointed out that it wasn’t only Standhardinger whose minutes were sacrificed in an attempt to rally back against Terrafirma, who has now beaten the franchise for the second time in 23 meetings.
“‘Di lang naman si Christian ‘yung di na naglaro, even Stanley [Pringle] ‘di na rin naipasok,” said the former cager turned coach, who called the shots in the second half as head coach Tim Cone sat out of frustration.
“When you get lifts from guys off the bench, you have to reward them also, kasi magnada yung pinakita nila so we stuck with those guys sa stretch na ‘yon.”
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