By REYNALD MAGALLON
Winning the Best Player of the Conference award should be a big consolation for NorthPort star Arvin Tolentino following his team’s semifinals exit in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.
The frontrunner for the top individual honors at the end of the quarterfinals, Tolentino’s chances of bagging his first major award took a huge blow after the Batang Pier got knocked out of contention after a 4-1 series defeat to Barangay Ginebra.
“We’ll see. Hindi ko alam, but I saw medyo mataas yung pangalan ko. But I guess lahat naman ng player na nandun deserving, diba?” said Tolentino when asked about his thoughts on his chances of claiming the BPC award after his team suffered a 126-99 blowout against Ginebra in Game 5.
Tolentino was at the second spot of the statistical race behind June Mar Fajardo and ahead of Robert Bolick before the semis but has the edge over them with San Miguel and NLEX failing to reach the playoffs.Also in the top 5 were Calvin Oftana and Jordan Heading.
Among them, Oftana is the biggest threat to Tolentino’s bid especially since he’s still in the Finals where TNT is set to take on Ginebra.
“It doesn’t really matter kung sino manalo. Kumbaga kahit sino ‘yung manalo dun, talagang deserving,” said Tolentino.
The 29-year-old high-scoring wingman, however, admitted that it would be a big bonus – and to some extent – a consolation should he manage to snag the award.
“Bonus na lang siguro, diba? I mean, I hope na makuha ko. That’s gonna be first. First kong award. First BPC,” said Tolentino.
