PBA: Stepping up in Japeth Aguilar’s absence leads to BPC plum for Christian Standhardinger

Barangay Ginebra big man Christian Standhardinger. MARLO CUETO/NQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines-Christian Standhardinger acknowledged that winning the Best Player of the Conference award in the PBA Governors’ Cup would have not been possible if he was not thrusted into a bigger role following Japeth Aguilar’s injury.

Standhardinger was the runaway winner of the conference honor after stepping up in the absence of Aguilar, who suffered a MCL sprain two games in the elimination phase.

“I don’t think I would have gotten this if Japeth was still playing because I was sharing minutes with him,” Standhardinger said after Game 4 of the Governors’ Cup Finals which saw Ginebra suffer a 116-104 loss at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

His numbers saw a dramatic increase after filling Aguilar’s void and topped the statistical points, among the criteria used to determine the BPC, from the end of the eliminations all the way to the end of the semifinals.

“Statistically, everything goes down which is logical because the less minutes you play, the less you can be good statistically. And statistics has a major percentage in winning,” he said.

“But It has the advantage that if you get those minutes playing with great teammates that put you in a great position. It makes it a bit easier to score on a solid percentage,” Standhardinger added.

Ginebra’s defeat, however, put a damper on Standhardinger’s coronation as TNT was able to tie the series at 2-2.

To make matters worse, Standhardinger was held to a series low of 10 points and three rebounds despite dishing out nine assists as Ginebra had no answer for TNT’s incredible shooting display and another strong game from Best Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

“It’s obviously very, very tough on a night like this. Sometimes you can’t have everything you want,” he said.

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