Mendoza: Fajardo unchallenged king

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Mendoza: Fajardo unchallenged king
SunStar Mendoza
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Who said Converge can defeat San Miguel Beer?

Don’t ever tell that to June

Mar Fajardo.

Yes, Converge can win one game, two games, which the sophomore team did in Games 3 & 4 to level its series with SMB at 2-2.

But we all know that, in a series, one battle does not win a war. Either, do two battles.

We are talking here of a series, a war. And, as everybody knows, battles compose a war.

Thus, the just-ended best-of-five quarterfinal series between Converge and San Miguel Beer was a war that, due to its drama and trauma, will be talked about for years to come.

Thanks, in part, to Alec Stockton’s mercurial rise to stardom capped by that game-winning jumper of his at the buzzer in Game 3 for a 114-112 win that moved Converge to within 1-2.

Inspired by that great escape, Converge went on to win Game 4, 114-100, behind a fiery third-quarter assault to force a winner-take-all and to stare at the titillating possibility to snatch an unthinkable upset of mighty San Miguel Beer.

And, it seemed the stars were aligning for Converge as it consistently kept SMB at bay in Game 5 while building margins of as many as 13 points.

But then, Converge’s hopes began to dim when Fajardo started asserting himself, unleashing his usual domination of short stabs and grabbing one board after another — proving once more that he is the league’s unchallenged king.

And so it was that through Fajardo, San Miguel Beer won that war on Sunday (109-105), Oct. 6, 2024, in the PBA Governors’ Cup before a massively thrilled crowd that included Sen. Bong Go at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

And Fajardo did the winning in a manner reminiscent of Spider-man’s annihilation of the neighborhood thugs.

His heroism is but proof that his record eight MVPs and 10 PBA titles thus far with SMB are living legacies of his too hard to ignore.

Imposing his mammoth 6-foot-10 frame again with telling impunity, Fajardo fired a conference-high 40 points to go with his 24 crackling rebounds in a meteoric Game 5 performance to again emphasize the fact that without the gentle giant from Pinamungahan, Cebu, San Miguel is but a minuscule speck in the PBA universe.

“It’s a good thing that we got this win,” said Fajardo.

Correction: He got this win.

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