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| PBA (file photo) |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--As the PBA Commissioner's Cup reaches its homestretch, the tight battle between the league's top giants for the MVP heats up.
San Miguel's Junemar Fajardo and Ginebra's Greg Slaughter are just a whisker apart in the statistical points race for the league's top individual prize after the quarterfinal round of the mid-season tournament as per a copy of the stats report obtained by Dugout Philippines on Monday.
Fajardo, who dominated the Philippine Cup stats-wise, is on top with 27.52 SP's two conferences in, but Slaughter, who made waves in the Commissioner's Cup especially with the former getting some rest to heal further his bum knee he got in the Philippine Cup Finals, used that Commissioner's Cup surge to inch closer at 27.51.
NLEX's Sean Anthony, GlobalPort's Terrence Romeo, and Alaska's Calvin Abueva also made it to the top five, but their respective SP's calculated by 40 percent of their total SP's in the Philippine Cup and 30 percent of their SP's in the Commissioner's Cup are at least 4.1 SP's behind those of Fajardo and Slaughter.
The remaining 30 percent will come from the SP's they will obtain in the Governors' Cup, which will start right after the FIBA OQT in July.
Chris Ross, the recently named Philippine Cup Finals MVP for his vital role in the Beermen's epic comeback from 0-3 down to beat the Aces, also made the topnotchers' list, ranking 25th with 16.37 SP's.
Meanwhile, Troy Rosario and Chris Newsome are also having a close showdown of their own for the Rookie of the Year.
The Talk 'n Text stretch-four garnered 16.58 SP's using the same calculation to lead the freshmen, even making the Top 25 in the MVP race, 22nd to be precise.
But the energetic Meralco winger, who also made a splash in the Commissioner's Cup, came in at close second with 16 SP's.
Arth Dela Cruz, who led the rookies in most Commissioner's Cup stats as per the latest release late in the eliminations, came in third at 14.77.
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