INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines - With the PBA season entering the homestretch, two names are expected to float to the top of the heap in the race for the Most Valuable Player award.

Burger King star Arwind Santos and Barangay Ginebra top gun Jayjay Helterbrand are lucky to be with teams still slugging it out for the two championship tickets in the ongoing Fiesta conference.

Santos and Helterbrand are actually running third and fourth, respectively, in the MVP race.

But with topnotcher Asi Taulava of Coca-Cola and Kelly Williams of Sta. Lucia already sidelined by their squads’ elimination, Santos and Helterbrand are expected to be the sole choices for the award.

Santos’ Whoppers are currently engaging San Miguel Beer in a best-of-seven semifinal duel while Helterbrand’s Kings are slugging it out with Rain or Shine in the other half of the Final Four.

The 6-foot-3 Santos has a slim edge in average statistical points (SPs) over Helterbrand, 30 to 29.7, but the MVP trophy is mostly decided by votes cast by players, coaches and members of the media.

Taulava took the No. 1 ranking from Williams in the MVP derby with 32.14 SPs at the end of the quarterfinals. The high-flying 6-foot-4 Williams has 32.07 SPs.

Talk ‘N Text guard Mac Cardona is in fifth spot (28.9), but could also be surpassed by San Miguel’s Dondon Hontiveros (28.4).

The rest of the top 10 contenders include Alaska’s Willie Miller at seventh (28.2), Tropang Texter Jimmy Alapag (28.1), Purefoods Kerby Raymundo (28.0) and San Miguel’s Jay Washington (27.96)