PBA: Door opens for Mo Tautuaa at San Miguel Beer. Will he barge in?

By Jonas Terrado

The injury of June Mar Fajardo could open the door for Mo Tautuaa to regain the form he had prior to joining the San Miguel Beermen late last season.

Tautuaa is expected to be thrusted into a bigger role at the center spot with the Beermen set to miss Fajardo for at least the whole duration of the season’s most important tournament because of a fractured right tibia suffered in practice.

“I used to play at NorthPort and played a lot of minutes there and I don’t suck, you know,” said Tautuaa, who joined SMB last October in a trade that sent Christian Standhardinger to NorthPort.

“I don’t suck at basketball so I just got to play my game and do what I do,” added Tautuaa.

The former No. 1 pick underwent an adjustment period upon his arrival with the Beermen, averaging just 5.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in seven games during the PBA Governors’ Cup, a far cry from the numbers he put up with the Batang Pier.

He posted 15.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 31 games, emerging as one of the Best Player of the Conference candidates in the Philippine Cup and eighth in the Statistical Points race during the Commissioner’s Cup.

“I’ve been in the running for the Best Player one time and it’s there,” Tautuaa said. “I just got to continue to play and work with our team and the team’s got to work with me. I mean, we’ll be good.”

Tautuaa averaged 10.0 points on a 37-percent clip with 7.0 rebounds in San Miguel’s two games against NLEX and Phoenix Pulse in the four-team mini-tournament which concludes Friday at the Upper Deck Sports Center in Ortigas.

Despite contrasting showings in the two games, being at least close to the things he did with NorthPort could bode well for Tautuaa and the Beermen, whose Philippine Cup reign is under threat.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is being groomed as the team likely to topple SMB while TNT KaTropa declared its intentions to spoil either possibility with center Poy Erram close to joining them courtesy of a three-team trade.

The effect of Fajardo’s absence and the challenge facing Tautuaa and others will be known by March 8 when the Beermen open the league’s 45th season against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We’re not worried right now,” Tautuaa said. “We have time to fix things and just get off on the right foot and just play basketball as a team and as individuals.”

Source: Manila Bulletin