Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
BOCAUE — LA Tenorio has countlessly bailed out Ginebra in tight situations before, may it be dropping his signature baseline reverse or drilling a gutsy three whenever his team needs him the most.
But more than his heroics, what makes the 33-year-old important for the Gin Kings has always been his stability, emerging as the calming force for the crowd favorites through the course of their campaign this 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup.
READ: Ginebra escapes Meralco in Game 7, completes title repeat
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Tenorio was adjudged as the Cignal-PBA Press Corps Finals Most Valuable Player after averaging 11.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in Ginebra’s title repeat.
He also upped the ante in the winner-take-all Game 7 on Friday, firing eight of his 26 points in the first quarter and 10 more in the third quarter as the Gin Kings subdued the Bolts, 101-96.
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It was Tenorio’s third Finals MVP award after winning the plum in the 2010 Fiesta Conference, which he shared with Cyrus Baguio in Alaska, and in last year’s Governors’ Cup.
This also ties the Nasugbu, Batangas native with PBA greats Danny Ildefonso and Eric Menk for the second-most Finals MVP awards at three.