June Mar Fajardo looks well on the way to claiming a fourth PBA Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference award, being the runaway leader in the BPC derby that has come down to an all-Beermen battle.
Fajardo, the league’s most dominant player in the last three years with a run of three MVP triumphs, has teammates Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot as the closest rivals for the coveted award to be handed out before Game Four of the Philippine Cup best-of-seven finale.
But the BPC plum is virtually in the bag for the 6-foot-11 Cebuano behemoth, the stats race breakaway winner in the elims who sustained his dominant showing in the quarterfinals against Rain or Shine and against TNT KaTropa in the semifinals.
GlobalPort’s Terrence Romeo, second placer to Fajardo in the stats race after the elims, kissed his BPC hopes good bye on their exit in the quarterfinals against TNT.
And so did Calvin Abueva after the Alaska Milk Aces saw their twice-to-beat advantage in the quarters raze by the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
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With his averages of 19.4 points, 15.2 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.5 assists, Fajardo collected a whopping total of 824 statistical points through the semis.
Santos amassed 619 SPs while Cabagnot piled up 550.
Through the semis, Fajardo have churned in 15 double-double performances in 19 games.
In their 104-88 win in Game Six that sent their Final Four playoff with the Texters to full distance, he logged in 23 points and 21 rebounds for his career 11th 20-20 game – the most by anybody in the league.
And Fajardo is expected to lead the way for the Beermen in the finals either against the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
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Twice grand slam-winning coach Tim Cone has said there's been no tougher conundrum for PBA tacticians than Fajardo since his PBA entry.
"Just trying to figure out what to do against him, that perplexes us coaches," said Cone, a 19-time PBA champion coach. "To me, San Miguel is the hardest team to prepare for because of him (Fajardo) and the weapons around him."
