By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo and Barangay Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson both achieved offensive rebounding milestones in their teams’ games over the weekend.
The SMB gentle giant is now the all-time offensive rebounding leader during the Beermen’s 120-111 victory over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painter in Cagayan de Oro City on Saturday, June 7 while the do-it-all Ginebra guard collected his 1000th offensive glass in the Kings’ 97-78 romp of the TNT Tropang 5G on Sunday, June 8.
The eight-time Most Valuable Player Fajardo surpassed previous record holder Jerry Codinera in the all-time list after grabbing his 2,412th offensive rebound at the 4:36 mark of the opening frame of the game against ROS.
Not only that Fajardo is now the all-time leader in that category, he also did it in fastest fashion, only needing 11 seasons or a total of 510 games to break the feat, according to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
In comparison, Codinera (2,411) needed 17 seasons or 871 games to take the all-time record. Fajardo and Codinera are joined by an elite company of great big men with Abet Guidaben (2,373) coming in third followed by Ramon Fernandez (2,221) and Asi Taulava (2,204).
Although still way behind on that list, Thompson also made a name for himself, being one of the best rebounding guards of his generation.
The 6-foot-1 playmaker soared for two offensive rebounds to end the third quarter to become only the 56th player overall in PBA history with at least 1,000 offensive boards, the 54th as a local and sixth and the only guard to achieve it in Ginebra franchise.
Sonny Cabatu, Eric Menk, Rudy Hatfield, Enrico Villanueva and Japeth Aguilar were the other Kings.
Thompson’s career milestone is also now his fourth this season alone, which according to Mangonon, made him the first ever player to bag four career achievement awards in one season.
Yoyoy Villamin previously held the record with three career achievement citations back in 1989.
Thompson’s other three career milestones this season are the 2,000 defensive rebounds, 2,000 assists and 500 steals.
