By JONAS TERRADO
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Scottie Thompson said his PBA Governors’ Cup Best Player of the Conference award is a testament that even a role player like himself can win one of the league’s highest individual honors.
Thompson claimed the biggest accomplishment of his flourishing career when he was hailed as the best player of the season-ending conference after being of the primary roles in the Gin Kings’ current run that came despite placing sixth in the eliminations.
Getting the BPC is something special as far as Thompson is concerned since the award is oftentimes given to those known for producing high-scoring numbers.
“We all know that hindi naman ako talagang scorer so nagulat ako kasi pwede pala makakuha ng ganitong award yung mga role player,” he said after Ginebra tied the Governors’ Cup Finals with Meralco at 2-2 with a 95-84 win at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
What made it more special was the way Ginebra responded from a four-game skid midway in the eliminations with a late surge followed by a big quarterfinal win over twice-to-beat TNT.
He also had to increase his role with the Gin Kings missing Stanley Pringle early in the conference and Japeth Aguilar during the semis and the first three games of the title series due to injuries.
“Through hardwork lang kaya siguro nag-payoff,” he said. “Kaya nakakagulat kasi up and down yung season namin so nagstep-up lang din lahat especially ako personally.
“Yung mentality namin as a team next man up so ayun nagstep-up din ako kasi sobrang daming injured sa amin,” added the six-year pro.
Thompson followed up his coronation with a 27-point performance that tied a career-high as Ginebra turned the series into a best-of-three.
Like Thompson, Justin Brownlee emerged as the runaway winner for the Best Import plum.
Both players won convincingly based on the tabulations released by the league following the announcement.
Thompson tallied 1,128 points to beat out TNT rookie Mikey Williams, who was a distant second with 699, and statistical points leader Robert Bolick of NorthPort with 581.
Bolick’s teammate Arwind Santos was fourth (428) while Wright placed fifth (416).
Despite placing second in statistics (401), Thompson received the top votes from the media (480), players (97) and the PBA Commissioner’s Office (150).
Brownlee finally got the Governors’ Cup top import plum after receiving 1,275 points to defeat Magnolia Pambansang Manok’s Mike Harris, Meralco’s Tony Bishop and NLEX’s Cam Clark.
Harris, who was Best Import in the 2018 Governors’ Cup when he was with Alaska, was second with 795, followed by Bishop (735) and Clark (443).
Brownlee became the 10th import to win the award at least twice, joining the late Bobby Parks, Allen Durham, Billy Ray Bates, Norman Black, Derrick Brown, Gabe Freeman, Jerald Honeycutt, Kenny Redfield and Arizona Reid.
