In Huddle
Who’ll emerge MVP this PBA season?
By Beth CelisPhilippine Daily Inquirer
ALL THOSE histrionics, theatrics and acid word war between PBA championship protagonists Tim Cone and Yeng Guiao will only serve to titillate the palate and whet the appetite of fans for the next encounter between B-Meg, which is seeking back-to-back titles and Rain or Shine, which is going after its very first PBA championship.
Remember, it was the very same rough play between Barako Bull and Talk ’N Text in the last conference, which resulted in several casualties, that drew the huge crowd in the crucial rounds of the Governors’ Cup.
The ongoing conference is expected to draw an even bigger audience considering that the conflict also involves the coaches who are at odds with each other.
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Short of bringing his players to the PBA office for physical examination, B-Meg coach Tim Cone offered to show PBA commissioner Chito Salud all the evidence he could lay his hands on to prove that the Elasto Painters have been playing rough and dirty, perhaps with the intention of maiming the Llamados.
To give him the proper forum to air his grievance, PBA Commissioner Chito Salud invited the multititled coach to drop by his office at Libis where they could talk in private.
Cone said he would bring a video tape of the game.
The commissioner made it clear that this was only an invitation and not a summon and that Cone had the option not to show up if he so chooses.
Well that’s exactly what the B-Meg head coach did. He did not show up for the meeting.
Incidentally, the commissioner’s office yesterday issued a memorandum prohibiting PBA teams from bringing monobloc chairs inside the game venue.
Time and again these innocent pieces of furniture have absorbed the wrath of many hotheaded coaches like Cone and commissioner Salud probably felt it was time to spare them of the violence.
Teams were allowed to bring in monoblocs beside the bench for whatever purpose they may serve.
The commissioner did not think it would be used for hurling inside the court.
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A colleague who covers the PBA beat was mulling the possibilities in this year’s Most Valuable Player race.
“But before we go into that, perhaps we first have to determine who will be the Best Player of the Conference, which incidentally will be announced today,” the scribe told me as he enumerated the candidates: Powerade’s Gary David, Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa, B-Meg’s Marc Pingris, and James Yap and Rain or Shine’s Paul Lee in that order based on statistical averages, as confirmed by PBA head statistician Fidel Mangonon.
“If Caguioa, who was last conference’s BPC, wins again this conference, he’ll be a cinch for season MVP,” my colleague said as he reminded me that Pingris is having a better conference, if not a better season than teammate James Yap, who was chosen best player of the final series in the Governor’s Cup.
Gary may be No. l in stats at yearend, but he played only 9 games in the conference.
“His team failed to make it past the elimination in the last two conferences,” he said.
My colleague did not say anything about Paul Lee. Perhaps he will have to do something super spectacular to be voted by media.
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HOOPVINE: Politics is probably completely out of Yeng’s mind at the moment, but talks have it that he is running for congressman in one of the districts in Pampanga in the next election. Yeng has just finished his third and last term as vice governor of Pampanga… What did he feel when his team made it to the finals after 6 years in the PBA and three head coaches, namely, Leo Austria, Robert Garcia and Yeng? “I felt relieved,” said Raymond Yu, who co-owns Rain or Shine with Terry Que.
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