In Game 4, when his club and San Miguel will resume play after two days, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone is anticipating a healthier June Mar Fajardo.

Despite having a calf injury, Fajardo played more minutes in Game 3 than he did in his first appearance following the injury. Fajardo played 27 minutes and 11 seconds on Sunday, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and yet came off the bench.

Fajardo played just 17 minutes and 39 seconds in Game 2 and finished with just two points, seven rebounds, and two assists. He did not start the game.

Cone anticipates the San Miguel big man to gradually regain his form and return to a prominent role in the rotation with two days off between games and an opportunity for Fajardo to recover more. The Beermen are trailing 2-1 in the semifinals going into Game 4 on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

“We were just talking about that… whether they’re going to start June Mar after two days rest,” Cone stated on Sunday.

“I would assume they would. I assume that as soon as he’s ready to start, they will start him. But they had some really good success in Game 2, not starting him and having him come off the bench.”

Fajardo came off the bench and played limited minutes as Mo Tautuaa and Rodney Brondial took over for the Beermen in Game 2, which San Miguel won 100-83.

Cone acknowledged that Fajardo’s bench start in Game 2 took the team by surprise.

“We had to kind of change our rotations in case June Mar came off the bench (for Game 3) so we were able to adjust our rotations a little bit,” Tim Cone said.

“First game surprised us,” Cone was alluding to Game 2, where Fajardo made his debut as a second stringer.

“We really had no clue that June Mar wasn’t going to start so our rotations kind of got screwed up when he came out of the game, and Japeth (Aguilar) was tired. So this time, we tried to save Japeth a little bit and match him up to June Mar.”

After three games in five days, the two-day respite is undoubtedly a good development for both Barangay Ginebra and San Miguel.

“Let me say that it’s really, really hard to play three games in five days. I mean, it’s really tough. We don’t do it during the eliminations, and so when it comes to playoff time, playing three games in five days is really tough,” he said.

“You saw what happened in the first game. That third game is really, really hard so showing up every night and playing a perfect game is almost impossible when you’re playing that many games in that short of a time,” he added.