By REYNALD MAGALLON
It’s not often you see a nine-time Most Valuable Player talking about his willingness to become a role player in a team
But that was the case on Wednesday, Aug. 5 as June Mar Fajardo willingly did the dirty work as San Miguel blasted Converge, 126-114 to pick up their fifth win in seven games.
And surprisingly, the 6-foot-10 center excelled at it.
Fajardo struggled on the field with just five points on 1-of-8 shooting but did a little bit of everything with a rare double-double of 21 rebounds and 10 assists.
But for an MVP to take a back seat and let his teammates shine while still dominating the game was only possible because they were the Beermen.
“Kasi sobrang dami na naming scorers. Halos lahat ng pinasok ni coach, lahat scorers iyon eh. Ang kulang sa grupo namin iyong role player so need ko i-fill yung gap na iyon,” said Fajardo after the game.
With Fajardo choosing to defer to his teammates more than usual, his great passes and extra possessions he took were not put to waste with George King firing a conference-high 46 points and Don Trollano also exploding for 27.
Jerrick Ahanmisi added 14 while Marcio Lassiter, Jericho Cruz and Rodney Brondial all had at least eight points.
Of course, such ploy wouldn’t be effective if not for Fajardo being in his usual humble and unselfish nature.
“Yung score naman nila score ko na rin eh. Score naman ng team. Ayoko ko rin makipag kumpetensya sa scoring. Ang dami naming scorer so buti nakuha namin yung panalo,” said Fajardo, whose passing helped SMB to open up the floodgate in the huge second explosion.
“Kailangan namin yung ball rotation iyon yung magandang ginawa namin sa game na ito sana magtuloy-tuloy,” he added
