JUNE Mar Fajardo kept hold of the top spot in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Best Player of the Conference race, but Arvin Tolentino is lurking closely behind in what could be his best shot at challenging for the highest individual award of the tournament.
The 35-year-old Fajardo is still at no. 1 by the end of the eliminations with a total of 42.0 statistical points based on the latest figures released by the league on Wednesday.
But with San Miguel failing to advance in the playoffs, the eighth-time MVP who leads the league in rebounding with 16.3 boards per game, is expected to be overtaken by Tolentino as the Northport Batang Pier ended up as the no. 1 seeded team heading to the quarterfinals.
The Northport forward is a close second behind Fajardo with 39.9sps and averages an all-around numbers of 23.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. Tolentino hasn't won the award yet.
Things suddenly opened up for Tolentino when Fajardo (20.1 points and 3.5 assists) and the Beermen failed to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in a decade.
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Another player in the running but whose team had been eliminated too, like San Miguel is NLEX guard Robert Bolick, who occupies the no. 3 spot with a 37.1sps. The high-scoring Road Warrior leads the league in both scoring and assists with averages of 23.5 and 7.8, respectively.
Also expected to be in contention for the race are TNT's Calvin Oftana (32.7sps) and Converge rookie Jordan Heading (32.5sps).
Behind his averages of 19.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, Oftana sits at no. 4 followed by Heading (17.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists) at fifth place.
Fajardo's case is similar in the fight for the Best Import Award as Mike Watkins could lose his hold of the lead following the early exit of NLEX.
Watkins remains at no. 1 with 52.7sps, but coming off strong at second place is two-time winner Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of no. 2 TNT with 51.8sps and Kadeem Jack of top seed Northport with 51.6sps.
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The 29-year-old Watkins paces all imports in rebounding with 20.8 boards and in block shots with 2.7 while averaging 26.7 points.
Unfortunately the Road Warriors lost to the Magnolia Hotshots in the sudden-death for the eighth and last quarterfinals berth, 112-81.
Magnolia's Ricardo Ratliffe is running at no. 4 with 50.1sps, while four rung lower of him is three-time winner Justine Brownlee of Barangay Ginebra with 45.2sps. (RG)
