PBA Player of the Week June Mar Fajardo stepped up for SMB when he was needed most

San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo. Photo from PBA Images.MANILA —June Mar Fajardo is literally and figuratively the biggest reason why the San Miguel Beermen are halfway through another PBA finals appearance.

The seven-time PBA MVP averaged 23.3 points, 14.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.3 blocks in the Beermen’s three playoff wins so far, two of which came from victories in the 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinals.

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SMB coach Jorge Gallent said there is an effort to turn to Fajardo at this stretch of the tournament, being the strength of the Beermen offense. The good thing about Fajardo as well is, aside from his scoring, he doesn’t hesitate to also give up the ball to an open teammate.

“We have to take advantage of what we have. We have June Mar so we have to take advantage of him and we have to evolve through him. He is doing great making his teammates better,” said Gallent last Sunday.

Fajardo’s performance earned him the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period May 15-19, besting the likes of Meralco’s Chris Newsome, and Barangay Ginebra’s Stanley Pringle and Christian Standhardinger.

“Hinahanap kasi ako ng mga teammates ko. Sinabihan din ako ni coach na kailangan ko piliin ‘yung opensa. Hinahanap ako ng teammates ko, kailangan ko mag-produce,” Fajardo said.

Fajardo opened the week by guiding San Miguel to a semifinal berth, finishing with 25 points and 22 rebounds in the Beermen’s 110-91 win over Terrafirma in their knockout quarterfinal clash.

Domination has been the word that can be described in Fajardo’s play in the semifinals, averaging 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the 101-98 and 106-89 wins of San Miguel over Rain or Shine in the best-of-seven semifinal series.

The bulk of the points of Fajardo came in the third quarter of Games 1 and 2 and it was there where the Beermen were able to pull away from the Elasto Painters.

“Ang feeling ko, no one can stop him inside the paint. That’s what we did in the third quarter,” added Gallent.