Christian Standhardinger got sick after the 30th Southeast Asian Games, bad enough that he sat out the NorthPort Batang Pier’s practice the day before facing Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the opener of their 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series.
“Hindi siya nag-practice kahapon, may sakit,” coach Pido Jarencio revealed.
“Binigay ko na sa kanya ‘yun kasi medyo pagod na rin after the SEA Games.”
But as the professional that he is, the 6-foot-8 workhorse did not sit out Game One of the best-of-five clash Saturday. And he even saw action — without restricted time, playing for over 39 minutes.
Standhardinger eventually finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, a steal, and a block in the match. And his performance was a major factor in the Batang Pier’s resounding 124-90 victory over the crowd darlings that put them ahead in the series 1-0.
“Christian is really professional,” lauded Jarencio of the Filipino-German bruiser moments after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Standhardinger, meanwhile, downplayed his condition, saying that he feels fine and there’s no reason for him to not be on the court playing.
“I’m okay. I’m a little banged up but I’m okay. Nothing that would keep me off the court,” he said.
“I played with worse. Much, much worse.”
The only thing that worries him, though, is that he really wants to give the best he can but he’s yet to reach one hundred percent. And so he plans to rest and recover, so that he’ll be in much better condition in Game 2.
“I’m worried about it because I wanna be as good as I can to play those games. But, obviously, I’m hurried up, I’m going home right away, drink tea. I’ll rest tomorrow, and I hope it’s better the day after tomorrow.”
