BETTER believe it, June Mar Fajardo ended up with just a single rebound in San Miguel's 111-105 win over Rain or Shine at the start of their PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinals series Saturday.
Fajardo finished with nine points in 25 minutes of action, but the most glaring numbers in his stats line was the single rebound (offensive) he pulled off in Game 1 of the best-of-five series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Elasto Painters ended up having more rebounds than the Beermen, 46-42.
Ironically, Fajardo leads all locals in rebounding this conference, averaging 11.8 per game. He also reached a career-milestone of grabbing 4,000 boards just two games ago.
The Beermen's failure to dominate the boards eventually led to some heated discussion on the bench during a timeout, with import Chris McCullough being vocal about the team not getting the job done in terms of rebounding the ball.
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Veteran forward Arwind Santos however, believes Fajardo will bounce back strong the rest of the best-of-five series.
"Si June Mar hindi pa ganun kainit yun," said Santos of the 6-foot-10 Cebuano, who got a ribbing from the former league MVP.
"Inaasar ko nga siya kasi ngayon ko lang nakita na one rebound lang siya. Siya pa ang nakakita," said Santos. "Hindi ako makapaniwala."
The Beermen got the job done in the series opener with Fajardo not being his dominant self.
Imagine more if the 29-year-old center finally gets his game going.
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"What more kung si June Mar talaga nakukuha pa niya yung average niya. Hindi ako makapaniwala kasi alam ko si June Mar hindi bagay sa kanya yung one rebound," said Santos.
"Nanalo kami pero hindi pa ganun kaganda ang laro ni June Mar. What more kung nandiyan pa yan." (RG)
