WITH his eyes zeroed in on leading San Miguel Beer to another finals stint, June Mar Fajardo flashed his Most Valuable Player (MVP) form in the playoffs to capture his second Cignal-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Press Corps Player of the Week award in the Commissioner’s Cup.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo averaged 21.0 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.0 assists for the period July 9 to 15 on the way to snaring the weekly citation, beating former college rival Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra.
The pride of Pinamungahan in Cebu kicked off the playoffs by pouring in 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and grabbing 13 rebounds as the Beermen overhauled a 24-point, first-half deficit to stun the TNT KaTropa, 121-110 in Game One of their quarterfinal duel.
The 28-year-old Fajardo followed that up by knocking down 19 points, adding 12 rebounds, four steals and three assists in the Beermen’s 106-102 win to complete a two-game sweep of the KaTropa two days later.
Fajardo though wasn’t done.
The reigning four-time league MVP scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and added two steals as the Beermen took Game One of their best-of-five semifinal series against long-time rival Alaska Aces, 92-79, last Saturday.
Fajardo, currently in strong contention for a precendent-smashing seventh Best Player of the Conference award, look to lead the Beermen to the Finals with another win over the Aces this coming Wednesday.
The Beermen took a 2-0 series lead after whipping the Aces, 105-94, Monday night.
San Miguel Beer, meanwhile, goes for the kill in Game Three of its semifinals series with Alaska tonight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The game is set at 7 p.m.
A victory would send San Miguel Beer to the final against either Barangay Ginebra San Miguel or Rain or Shine.
Import Renaldo Balkman and Fajardo were a solid frontcourt duo with Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross creating a similar impact throughout the game. Balkman hauled 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Fajardo had 21-point and 18-rebound performance.
With the Balkman-Fajardo pair a force to reckon with inside the lane, Cabagnot and Ross were as excellent in manning the backcourt.
Cabagnot tallied 14 points, nine assists and four steals, while Ross redeemed himself after a lackluster Game One performance with his 16 points.
On the verge of sweeping the series, San Miguel Beer Head Coach Leo Austria said a sweep will be a bonus for the team.
“If we win Game Three, we will be happy because it’s a big advantage. Everyone is really tired because in the past two weeks, we never had a day off. We keep on practicing,” Austria said.
Asked which team he prefers to face in the Finals, Austria said: “Ginebra!”
“I think it will be a good series against Ginebra because we all know they are the hottest team in the league right now. With the addition of Jeff Chan, they are really preparing their team for our zone defense,” he said.