San Miguel Beer superstar June Mar Fajardo isn’t losing sleep over the missed jumper that cost them the title in Game 6 of their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals series against Meralco on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fajardo said they have to move on from their heart-crushing 70-80 setback, knowing that the Bolts are the better team in the series.
“We thought we could still do it,” a dejected Fajardo said after the game that gave the Bolts their first ever title since joining the league in 2010.
“We have to accept the loss.”
True enough, the Bolts played their hearts out, especially against Fajardo, arguably the most dominant force in the league with 10 Best Player of the Conference titles and seven Most Valuable Player crowns.
Brandon Bates embraced the role as his primary defender while big men Norbert Torres, Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge also made life difficult for him from start to finish.
The Bolts’ defensive intensity was in full display in the crucial stretch of Game 6. After the 6-foot-10 Fajardo knocked down a rare three-pointer in the final 3.3 seconds — which is only his second trey this year — the Bolts made sure to come up with an airtight defense while watching his game-winning jumper clanking off the rim.
“The play was supposed to be for Marcio,” Fajardo admitted.
“He was being defended hard and I saw Simon at the corner. But I also noticed that the clock was already winding down so I had to take the shot.”
In the end, Fajardo has nothing but praise for the game plan of Meralco coach Luigi Trillo and consultants Nenad Vucinic and Norman Black.
“It’s Meralco’s time to be champion,” the humble Cebuano said. “We have to appreciate those who are deserving. It’s painful for us, but that’s life. We have to move on.”
But the battle is still far from over.
Fajardo said they will march to the next conference with fire in their eyes and draw inspiration from that disappointing sequence that ended up with Chris Newsome cutting the net and the Bolts raising the trophy.
“We’ll keep our heads up because it’s not the end of the world for us,” he said before disappearing into a thick crowd full of triumphant Meralco supporters.
“We’ll be back for the next conference — that’s for sure.”