MACAU – Wondering why Christian Standhardinger didn’t play for San Miguel in the battle for third place against Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in the East Asia League Terrific 12 on Sunday night?
As per coach Leo Austria, the Fil-German big man asked for a rest owing to a hurting knee.
“We don’t want to aggravate the minor injury on his knee because there’s a little bit of fluid,” said the San Miguel coach when asked about the absence of Standhardinger in the team’s 91-89 loss against the Lions.
The 6-foot-7 Standhardinger showed up at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion in his playing jersey, but spent the entire game just sitting on the San Miguel bench.
Standhardinger had eight points and four rebounds as San Miguel lost against Liaoning in the semifinals, 111-89.
Without him, the Beermen were left without two of their best big men as five-time MVP June Mar Fajardo sat out the entire tournament due to a sprained ankle.
But Austria insists the well-being of his players is first and foremost, never mind if the team could only finished fourth and consequently missed out on winning the prize money worth $50,000.
“You know we value each player,” he said.
The San Miguel coach also has no doubt the outcome of the match would have been different if Standhardinger was able to play.
“Maybe if Christian played with us tonight, I think we might have finished third place,” Austria said.
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