PBA: Arwind, Asi up, but Kelly looks a cinch

February 19, 2008

MANILA, Philippines — Three players not seeing action in the Smart PBA Philippine Cup Finals are in the running for the Player of the Conference award and Purefoods gunslinger James Yap is not among the top five who are eligible for the coveted plum.

Arwind Santos and Asi Taulava, whose squads were booted out as early as the wild card phase, finished 1-3 in the statistical points race.

The 6-foot-4 Santos of Air21 wound up with an average of 37.1 SPs in 20 games while Taulava had 36.8 after a combined 24 games with Talk ‘N Text and the Coca-Cola Tigers.

Taulava picked up most of his points with Coca-Cola, the team he was traded to by his former long-time squad, Talk ‘N Text, in a blockbuster deal mid-conference.

Sta. Lucia Realty’s Kelly Williams, last season’s top rookie, emerged as the logical frontrunner for the top player award after finishing No. 2 with 36.7 SPs even as reigning MVP Willie Miller of semifinalist Alaska took the No. 4 slot.

Purefoods’ Kerby Raymundo took the fifth and last slot of the exclusive list with 32.9 SPs.

Disqualified

Yap, the 2006 MVP, finished in sixth spot with a 32.2 statistical points norm which disqualified him from winning the prestigious honor.

Voting started last week and will end in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Finals between Purefoods and Sta. Lucia on Wednesday.

The statistics will make up 30 percent of the result, with another 30 percent coming from votes of the media, 25 percent from the players, 10 percent from TV station ABC-5, and the final 5 percent from the Commissioner’s Office.

Voters will be asked for their first three choices, with the first choice worth 60 points, the second 30 and the third 10.

Barangay Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa won the award over San Miguel’s Danny Seigle last year and, based on recent history, the player who wins the coveted award almost always comes from the teams playing in the Finals.

The Gin Kings won the title in six gripping games over the Beermen despite losing the first two games of their best-of-seven playoffs last year.

Leading bet

This makes Williams the leading bet and his performance in Sta. Lucia’s Game 1 victory over Purefoods would most likely sway voters into selecting him as their top choice for the award.

Williams finished with 24 points, 14 of them in the fourth period where the Realtors broke away to score a 109-97 thumping of the Giants.

The two teams were playing Game 2 at presstime.

Santos finished with averages of 20 points and 11.7 rebounds as the cornerstone of the Express, while Taulava normed 16.4 points and 14.7 rebounds.

Yap, meanwhile, failed to crash the elite list despite leading the Tender Juicy Giants in scoring with 21.8 points a night.

Raymundo, the 6-foot-7 former Letran College ace in the NCAA, had good all-around numbers of 15.5 points, 9.8 boards and 4.2 assists.

Welcoat’s Joe Devance, the No. 1 pick in the Draft, was the top rookie, finishing in 16th overall and pacing Sta. Lucia’s Ryan Reyes in the newcomers’ department.

The 6-foot-9 center averaged 16.1 points and seven rebounds for 26 SPs.

Reyes was just two rungs behind in 18th with 25.7 SPs a game and the next rookie, Ronjay Buenafe of Coca-Cola, was in 43rd place with 20.6 SPs.

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