GREG Slaughter got the better of June Mar Fajardo on the night his San Miguel Beer rival reached another milestone in his PBA career.
The 7-foot Slaughter outplayed the 6-foot-11 Fajardo in Barangay Ginebra Kings' 130-110 victory over the Beermen in Game Four of the Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday.
The Ginebra center shot 6-of-11 from the field to finish with 19 points and eight rebounds in the win that tied the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
Fajardo meanwhile, submitted numbers of 15 points and 14 rebounds, but was held to a 6-of-14 shooting.
His woes came just hours after winning a record seventh Best Player of the Conference award and as the newest member of the league's 5,000-point club.
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Slaughter though, refused to take credit for scoring one over his long-time rival.
"I don't really think we have any one-on-one type of thing. It's just Ginebra got the better of San Miguel," said Slaughter, whose rivalry with Fajardo dates back to their college days in Cebu.
"When you're team is playing well, you always look good."
In a way, Slaughter did help the Kings look good.
He fired 11 points in a blistering Barangay Ginebra run to start the game that saw the Kings scored the first 17 points to set the tempo of the match.
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"Our shots were falling, we were executing, playing D, and the effort was there. That start was what let us ultimately win the game," said the big man out of Ateneo and University of Visayas.
Slaughter hopes the Kings could duplicate the same start come Game Five, but doesn't see the Beermen falling into the same trap again.
"If we can win by blowout, I'll take that again. But we're not counting on that," said the 30-year-old big man.
"Hope we get it (Game Five). We're seeing it as a Game 1 of a best-of-three. We'll just come out of there real hard."(RG)
