By REYNALD MAGALLON
San Miguel Beer main man June Mar Fajardo is expected to get much of the attention from the Meralco defense and that should fall on the shoulders of Raymond Almazan and rookie Brandon Bates.
The towering big men of the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Finals is bracing for a tough and physical battle as they try to impose their will and heft underneath in the best-of-seven showdown.
After surviving the towering duo of Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar, the tandem of Bates and Almazan will continue its trial by fire against the seven-time MVP who is back on his familiar playground in the Finals.
The two are up for the daunting task.
“What goes into it is a lot of preparation. You have to really prepare your body. I’m probably 50 kilos soaking wet so against June Mar against Standhardinger against Japeth, I really have to try my best,” said Bates, who turned out to be the biggest revelation for Meralco in the semifinal series against Ginebra.
“Di mo maistop si June Mar at least malimit lang namin siya. Tsaka not all June Mar naman tong team na ito. Alam naman natin na loaded talaga so samin mga bigs lang talaga, ang trabaho namin is depensahan si June Mar and the rest bahala na sila,” echoed Almazan.
Even Meralco coach Luigi Trillo was convinced that there’s not really many ways to contain Fajardo especially in the Finals although the goal for the Bolts is just to make it difficult for him to operate from inside the paint.
“You can’t stop him, you have to give him different looks. You have to look at the tape so you can see your advantage and disadvantage against him but it’s not only him,They have Mo Tautuaa, they have Vic (Manuel),” the amiable coach pointed out.
Fajardo, for his part, knew that nothing would come easy for him in the Finals and likewise prepared hard against the bigs of the Bolts which outside Almazan and Bates, still have guys like Kyle Pascual, Norbert Torres and Toto Jose to throw at him.
“Ganda ng nilalaro ni Brandon lalo na yung Game 7 nga nila six blocks sya so malaki yung potensyal ng bata and lagi siyang go hard yun yung kagandahan sa kanya,” Fajardo said of Bates.
“Si Raymond tropa ko yun eh gugulpihin ko yun,” said in jest by Fajardo who outside the court was a good pal of Almazan, having shared battles as part of the national team in the past.
“Si Raymond, di mo sya basta basta babaliwalain kasi sobrang taas ng percentage nya sa three points, yung perimeter and mahaba rin siya e so kaya nya dumepensa, kaya nya rin mag score,” he added.
Either way, Fajardo is expecting nothing less from the Meralco frontline especially being the anchors of the league’s best defense.
“For sure magiging bakbakan ang series na ‘to kasi alam naman natin the way na maglaro yung meralco talagang go hard sila . Sila yung number 1 depensa so gagawin lang namin ‘yung best namin,” he added.
