Standhardinger leads Best Player race, Brownlee outside top 5 in Best Import battle
MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra star Christian Standhardinger is on track for a second Best Player of the Conference (BPC) plum as he leads the statistical race at the end of the PBA Governors’ Cup elimination round.
The Filipino-German workhorse averaged 42.8 statistical points (SPs) built on all-around numbers of 22.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6 assists in leading the Gin Kings to an 8-3 record for the third seed.
Rising to the occasion after frontcourt partner Japeth Aguilar went down with a knee injury, Standhardinger has emerged as the favorite for the award he first won with NorthPort in the 2019 edition of the season-ending tiff.
The San Miguel duo of CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo took the second and third spots with 39.3 and 37.6 SPs, respectively.
Perez averaged 20.7 points. 6.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.5 steals as the Beermen clinched the second seed with a 9-2 slate.
Fajardo, meanwhile, normed 14.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.4 blocks before he sustained a knee injury, which will keep him out for majority of the playoffs and likely dash his chances of winning a 10th BPC plum.
Calvin Oftana and Roger Pogoy completed the top five as they showed the way for league-leading TNT, which dominated the elimination round by winning all but one of its 11 games.
Oftana chalked up 13.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1 steal in an entirely off-the-bench role to garner 36.1 SPs, while Pogoy put up 20.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals to amass 35.8 SPs.
Ginebra’s Jamie Malonzo (33.5 SPs), Terrafirma’s Juami Tiongson (33.3 SPs), Converge’s Maverick Ahanmisi (33.27 SPs), Magnolia’s Calvin Abueva (32.6 SPs), and TNT’s Mikey Williams (32.5 SPs) rounded out the top 10.
While Standhardinger topped the BPC battle, resident Gin Kings reinforcement Justin Brownlee finished outside the top five in the Best Import duel with 51.5 SPs.
Despite impressive across-the-board numbers of 27.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 7.4 assists, three-time winner Brownlee landed at sixth in the race in which Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has the inside track.
Hollis-Jefferson grabbed the top spot with 59 SPs behind averages of 31 points, 12 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 2.4 steals, and 1 block.
Banished FiberXers import Jamaal Franklin and the Hotshots’ Antonio Hester figured in a tie for second with 56 SPs followed by NorthPort’s Kevin Murphy (53.3 SPs) and San Miguel’s Cameron Clark (51.8 SPs). – Rappler.com