 |
| CJ Perez won the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals MVP award. Kennelf Monteza |
QUEZON CITY—CJ Perez is now primed for a bombastic season for San Miguel.
The six-foot-two shooting guard completed a domination of the PBA Commissioner's Cup by winning the conference's Finals MVP award for towing his team to the championship.
Through six games in the finals series against Magnolia, Perez, who won the Best Player of the Conference award, averaged 18 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 3.2 steals per contest.
The defining moment, though, came in the series-clinching Game 6, where he exploded for 28 points.
Held to only four points in the first quarter and scoreless in the second, Perez came alive in the final 24 minutes of action, dropping 24 points, 12 in each of the last two quarters.
Nothing, though, was more important than his dagger three with 20.2 seconds left that gave the Beermen a four-point lead, 103-99.
While he missed two pressure-packed free throws after Aris Dionisio's three kept the Hotshots in the game, Perez still walked out of the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Valentine's night as champion as Dionisio's last gasp from way out only hit the back rim at the final buzzer.
With the BPC award automatically meriting a season MVP nomination as long as he gets to play at least 70 percent of the Beermen's total games this season, Perez could be halfway through a spectacular season that should earn him the PBA's top individual prize.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
