It’s never a good thing when a player goes down and clutches his knee immediately. And that’s exactly what happened to June Mar Fajardo in the San Miguel Beermen’s 96-82 PBA Philippine Cup Finals victory over the TNT Tropang 5G on Friday.
Fajardo hit his knee on the hardcourt in the third quarter after tripping over teammate Rodney Brondial, who got pushed to the ground by TNT big man Poy Erram.
“Natulak ako tapos bumagsak tuhod ko,” Fajardo recalled of the play that sent him walking gingerly to the San Miguel bench.
Fajardo Gives It a Go, Hopes for the Best
The 13-time Best Player of the Conference did return briefly in the fourth quarter, evidently on the advice of the Beermen’s physical therapists.
“Gusto rin i-try ng PT para matingnan kung kaya ko maglaro. Sa tingin ko, kaya naman. Pahinga lang siguro, tapos therapy lang ako,” he said.
Abai finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds but largely took a backseat to Brondial, whose 17 points and 15 rebounds sparked the Beermen’s Game 5 win.
Now, San Miguel and its fans can only wait and hope Fajardo’s knee doesn’t swell up ahead of a possible closeout in Sunday’s Game 6.
“Ia-assess pa ako bukas [today], so titingnan. Pero hopefully hindi mamaga,” Fajardo said.
San Miguel Goes for the Crown
The Beermen will be going for a second consecutive Philippine Cup crown on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena. But they will likely have to do it with Fajardo at less than optimal fitness, as he has already been dealing with shoulder pain before injuring his knee in Game 5.
Better believe, though, that The Kraken will play if he can.
