San Miguel Beer center June Mar Fajardo exchanged a lively and fun chat with TNT’s RR Pogoy, Calvin Oftana and Poy Erram in their native dialect minutes before the press conference of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals.
But come game time of the best-of-seven championship series starting Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the best of buddies off the court will become the fiercest of rivals when they step on the hardwood floor.
PBA fans down south are in for a treat as the best Bisaya players clash for glory in the all-Filipino conference.
Arguably the greatest PBA player to come out of Cebu, Fajardo braces for a tough challenge from his fellow Bisaya as the Beermen look to reclaim the Philippine Cup title they lost last year.
“Happy to go up against my fellow Bisaya. We’re proud Bisaya. We represent all the Bisaya in the PBA,” the proud son of Compostela, Cebu said.
The eight-time Most Valuable Player vos fans will enjoy the series.
“We’ll give our best and show everyone how the Bisaya play, hard-nosed play. We want to showcase how good the Bisaya players are in the PBA,” he added.
Pogoy, a native of Minglanilla, Cebu, embraces the challenge of going up against Fajardo and the Beermen as the Tropang 5G gun to complete a historic grand slam.
“I see it as our final round since we’re going up against the best Bisaya player. It’s great for our community since there’s a lot of fans watching in the Visayas and Mindanao. In fact, a lot (of Bisaya) have been messaging us. It’s great for the PBA and for us Bisayas,” said Pogoy, who remains day-to-day after suffering a hamstring injury in Game 2 of the semifinals against Rain or Shine.
Oftana, on the other hand, joked about recruiting Fajardo to join TNT.