CHRISTIAN STANDHARDINGER has been holding the fort well for Barangay Ginebra in the absence of frontcourt partner Japeth Aguilar.
The 6-foot-8 Filipino-German churned out near triple-double averages in the Kings’ last three games including wins against playoff-bound teams Meralco and Converge as Aguilar continues to recover from an MCL sprain.
Standhardinger normed 29 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in a three-game winning run that paved the way for the defending champions to catch up with San Miguel at second place with a 7-2 record, thus earning the Ginebra big man the unanimous choice as the Cignal Play-Philippine Basketball Association Press Corps Player of the Week for the period March 1-5.
Don Trollano of NLEX, who fired a career-high 44 points in a 142-125 beating of also-ran Terrafirma was the consensus runner-up choice to Standhardinger by the group of men and women regularly covering the PBA beat.
Coach Tim Cone lauded Standhardinger for stepping up on the plate and compensating for the absence of Aguilar.
“With Japeth out, he’s getting the heavier minutes and we have to go to him. And he’s responding big, big time,” said the champion mentor.
Standhardinger began his assault with a 31-10-7 stat line against Ginebra rival Meralco in a 112-107 come-from-behind win, and then followed it up with a 28-12-8 job in a 109-89 blowout of Phoenix.
He maintained almost the same number as the Kings denied the FiberXers a Top 4 finish behind a 120-101 runaway victory where Standhardinger finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists.
Calvin Abueva of Magnolia and Aaron Black of Meralco received votes as the third choices for the weekly plum.
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