MANILA – After the quarterfinals, Alaska Aces forward Vic Manuel lost his lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference race to San Miguel Beermen center June Mar Fajardo.
Fajardo – four-time PBA Most Valuable Player – superseded Manuel after his statistical point average racked up to 38.7 from 36.8 after their best-of-three quarterfinal series against TNT KaTropa.
Manuel’s number dipped to 37.58 from 37.2 after the eliminations. Aces finished off Magnolia Hotshots in just one game in the quarterfinals.
His average is expected to dip further, with his offense plunging in the first two games of the semifinals against Beermen, while Fajardo continued to have his usual numbers.
Fajardo is also en route to his fifth straight PBA MVP trophy with a runaway average of 29.6 as against 25.3 of Stanley Pringle of GlobalPort Batang Pier right behind.
Barangay Ginebra Kings’ Japeth Aguilar places third in the MVP race with 23.6, followed by Beermen’s Arwind Santos (23.4) and Alex Cabagnot (22.0), Batang Pier’s Sean Anthony (21.9), Phoenix’s Matthew Wright (21.8), Beermen’s Marcio Lassiter (21.2), Manuel (20.8), and TNT’s Jayson Castro (20.5).
Jason Perkins of Phoenix Fuel Masters is the Rookie of the Year race leader with 15.10, followed by Raymar Jose of Blackwater Elite (9.94) and Robert Herndon of Magnolia Hotshots (9.09).
Top pick Christian Standhardinger of Beermen is out for missing the Philippine Cup while No. 2 selection Kiefer Ravena of NLEX Road Warriors is also out due to his FIBA suspension./PN
