MANILA, Philippines – Christian Standhardinger admitted he still needs some time adjusting to the PBA.

Standhardinger, the top pick in the recent draft, didn’t quite have the PBA debut he planned for himself after the San Miguel Beermen crashed to an 85-93 loss to the Meralco Bolts on Wednesday, May 9.

The Filipino-German had trouble managing his fouls as he finished with 4 points, 5 rebounds, two assists and two steals against two turnovers and 5 fouls in 19 minutes of play.

In his first 7:31 minutes of play, Standhardinger already had 4 fouls but he insisted the PBA’s physicality wasn’t the reason for his relatively quiet night.

“I don’t think it’s that physical, to be honest with you. I think the ABL (ASEAN Basketball League) was more physical. I was surprised, actually it’s not more on the same level. I just need to adjust to the way the games are called here,” he said.

Standhardinger is coming off an impressive season with Hong Kong Eastern in the ABL, where he averaged 22.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. 

Still, he said he does not plan on chasing the same numbers unless San Miguel head coach Leo Austria tells him different.

After all, Standhardinger, despite not making much impact on the offensive end, tallied the best plus-minus among all Beermen with +8. 

“You know, I think I’m OK. That’s what I’ve told guys I’m gonna do. I’m not gonna go out here like in the ABL where like I’m the main scorer of the team and try to aggressively get my points.”

“I shot 5 shots, I think, and I’m just trying to facilitiate, get the guys open, put the guys in a right situation. Unfortunately that didn’t work out today,” he said.

San Miguel has a few days to fix things up before facing the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Sunday, May 13, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City and the 28-year-old is confident it will be a different result. 

“I have no doubt that in next games, we’ll pull it off.” 

– Rappler.com