Nothing to worry about, says June Mar of hand injury
June Mar Fajardo turned to an old joke to shrug off concerns about his injured hand. “Malayo sa bituka ‘to,” Fajardo said while rushing to get to a hospital to check on the severity of the injury.
Directly translated, the phrase means the injury is far from the intestines. Its implied meaning is “I’m okay.”
That should be a positive sign for Beermen fans, who were worried when the 6-foot-10 seven-time Most Valuable Player hurt his hand in the third quarter of a 115-110 victory over Rain or Shine in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on late Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fajardo hurt his left hand while trying to contest a shot by rookie Adrian Nocum. He managed to return in the fourth, albeit while wearing a bandage. But he was subbed off in the dying seconds of a close encounter, heightening concern over the Beermen star who missed 13 games in the final two conferences of last season due to injury.
“I don’t think this is major. It was just an accident,” Fajardo said.
Another big plus for the Beermen is that their star center will have a lot of days to recover. San Miguel won’t play until a Dec. 8 match against the NorthPort Batang Pier. The break also buys time for other injured Beermen to get well, among them Terrence Romeo, Jeron Teng, Vic Manuel and rookie Kyt Jimenez.
“I think he (Fajardo) has time to recover and I’m confident that his hand will be better on Dec. 8,” said coach Jorge Gallent.
Despite Fajardo missing out a tense endgame, the Beermen still had enough tools to hammer out their third victory in four games.
Triple, plus a foulMarcio Lassiter knocked down a triple with less than a minute to go, even as he was fouled on the shot, as San Miguel took a 111-108 lead.
Lassiter, coming back from an injury, played just two minutes last weekend when San Miguel defeated Converge in Tiaong, Quezon Province, after being sidelined in the first two games due to an ankle injury.But he remained the deadshot marksman he always has been. Lassiter came through with the biggest shot of the game when he knocked down a triple off a Jhonard Clarito foul with 43.5 seconds left that broke a 108-all tie. He would miss the bonus free throw, but the shot was enough for the Beermen to pull off an escape act over the pesky Elastopainters.
San Miguel eventually climbed to joint second with Barangay Ginebra and Meralco as Lassiter finished with 23 points.“He wasn’t to practice for 10 to 15 days, but today, he proved his worth,” Gallent said of Lassiter. “That’s the Marcio Lassiter that we all know.” INQ
