De Ocampo nails first BPC trophy

RANIDEL De Ocampo, the talented Talk ‘N Text forward, raises his first Best Player of the Conference trophy. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

TALK ‘N Text power forward Ranidel De Ocampo, getting a huge lift from the league’s press corps, won his first PBA Best Player of the Conference award after nipping behemoths June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer and Asi Taulava of Air21 for the top Governors’ Cup honor.

After finishing fifth in the Statistical Points race, De Ocampo gained a lot of headway in the media votes category after cornering 35 out of a possible 39 first place votes to finish with a final tally of 1,084 points. He won by 95 points over Fajardo.

Not only did the 6-foot-6 De Ocampo win his first BPC, it also made him eligible to bag his first season Most Valuable Player award by becoming the third and last candidate for the honor after Fajardo and Talk ‘N Text teammate Jason Castro.

Fajardo and Castro became the first two candidates for the MVP after winning the BPC in the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups, respectively.

Taulava is also an MVP candidate after finishing second in the statistical race.

Interestingly, there were no San Mig Coffee or Rain or Shine players who made it to the top five of the SP race—which make up the list of candidates—even if the Mixers and the Elasto Painters slugged it out in the Finals of two conferences, including this best-of-five title series for the Governors’ Cup.

Taulava, who enjoyed a second wind at 41 years old, finished third with 638 points, with Greg Slaughter, the 7-foot shoo-in for the Rookie of the Year award, winding up fourth with 409 points.

Cliff Hodge, the hardworking Meralco power forward, was fifth with 404 points.

Arizona Reid of Rain or Shine won his second Best Import citation in four seasons with San Mig Coffee’s Marqus Blakely finishing second.