By REYNALD MAGALLON
BACOLOD CITY – CJ Perez didn’t mind losing the PBA All-Star game Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor to teammate Robert Bolick despite his splendid performance that saw him explode for 39 points in the 140-140 stalemate between Team Barroca and Team Japeth.
Highlighting the huge offensive night for Perez was the 28 points he poured in the second quarter that allowed Team Barroca to close the gap 79-68 after trailing by as many as 32 early in the game.
The San Miguel Beer star, however, tipped his hats off to Bolick who simply took over in the final minute to force the draw.
“Wala naman sa akin yung mga ganun. All Star to, kahit sino pwede maging MVP. Yun yung desisyon nila so yun talaga yun. And, Berto deserved it naman. Kung ‘di niya na-shoot yun, di naman tatabla yun,” said Perez of Bolick, who had 9 of his 13 points in the last 30 seconds of the contest.
Bolick, for his part, however, believed that Perez was also deserving of the recognition especially after carrying Team Barroca for almost the entire contest.
Perez’s second quarter explosion even entered the league history books as the most points scored by any player in a quarter since the all-star game was first played in 1989.
“Pero talaga para sa akin, MVP si CJ talaga.Ginawa talaga ni CJ, halftime 32 points na, ilan ba siya natapos? 50? 39? Grabe,” Bolick said of his backcourt running mate.
During that blistering stretch, Perez nailed six of his seven triples as he singlehandedly answered all of Team Japeth’s long four-point bombs which came from different directions from Paul Lee, Marcio Lassiter and RR Pogoy.
“Grabe rin shooting ng kabila binuhat lang kami talaga ni CJ nung first half humabol kami,” he added.
Asked about the scoring outburst, Perez said it was just the team being competitive even in an exhibition game.
“Lumabas lang yung pagka-competitive namin kasi ang hirap naman kung tatambakan kami ng singkwenta di ba, tapos sa All-Star pa. Parang nakakahiya naman. Hindi na siya magiging fun.
