WHOS THAT BIG MAN SITTING IT OUT? -- by Phl Eagle Obviously, my basketball was from decades past, left in the trails of shoe prints on rough court pavements somewhere. So I couldnt figure why Junemar Fajardo kept warming the bench most of the minutes even if my eyes suggested he was performing well. I thought we always longed for home-bred talents in the vicinity of seven feet. Now that we got at least one and he seemed to do well, while keep him away from the action? Against Greece, he piled up 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in about 10 minutes. How many players in the FIBA World Cup of 2014 can do that? Last night, against mighty Argentina, he ably scored, grabbed rebounds, defended the paint and even got the two early fouls of Luis Scola but, in what looked like a flash, he was gone from the court again sitting on the bench for the next eternity. For a basketball idiot like me, it was a puzzle -- especially in a night when Andray Blatche (as big as his Filipino heart is) and Jean Marc Pingris (as brave and illustrious he is) were both so hobbled by injuries they could hardly elevate for rebounds toward the end. I could not figure why Fajardo was not to be called in to replace the hurting Pingris or someone else, maybe even Blatche, albeit for a few minutes. I wondered how come Fajardo and Blatche could not play together at center and power-forward positions, respectively, in moments like those. I cannot judge the passion for dribbling and crossovers of Blatche as he has had much success on those, apart from turnovers it also created. However, wouldnt it be better that while Blatche was doing that from the perimeter, Fajardo was patrolling the paint? Who would grab the rebound when Blatche released from the perimeter? Who would the defend the paint when Blatche was outside of it trying to draw Argentinas big men close to the perimeter? Sure, Pingris had way exceeded himself and played much taller than his six-foot-five, but he was limping on injury. Shouldnt we give him rest? And there was our six-foot-ten homegrown mastadon, reasonably quick, brave as a leopard, 270 pounds and all, not dumb at basketball like me, sitting on the bench. Help me out on what was happening. I left my kindergarten basketball somewhere in time. And I trust Coach Chot knows better. Still, and in the end, very good job, Gilas Pilipinas. You have made Filipinos like me really proud. Source: https://facebook/junmarfajardo/posts/814556208575816
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:37:36 +0000
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