BPC MEANS NOTHING SANS CHAMPIONSHIP – CASTRO
Before Tuesday’s game, Talk n Text combo guard Jayson Castro hoisted the coveted ware as the winner of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference award.
Right after the buzzer, he quickly hustled off the floor and went straight to the lockers, dejected as he disappointed his teammates and the yellow-clad Talk n Text gallery.
Castro missed eight of 11 three-point attempts, two inside the final minute that could have prevented San Mig Coffee from taking the pivotal 2-1 lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finale.
Now, Castro and his teammates need to beat the Mixers two in a row to salvage the championship.
Castro needs to step forward again to keep the luster of his BPC plaque.
Otherwise, it would be meaningless.
“Kagaya ng lagi namin sinasabi sa team namin. Hindi kami after individual award. Gusto namin championship para lahat kami fully rewarded,” said Castro.
They need to strike back at San Mig Coffee once again or they also put to naught their 13-game unbeaten romp from the eliminations to the semifinals.
“Sayang ang lahat ng pinagpaguran namin kung hindi namin makukuha ang championship,” said Castro.
But until San Mig finally puts Talk n Text away, it is still Castro’s conference.
After bagging a first Best Player of the Conference award last year and then gaining a spot in the FIBA Asia Mythical Five Selection, Castro further improved his status as an elite player by winning the Commissioner’s Cup BPC plum.
Seemingly in his finest form since joining the league as the third pick in the talent-laden 2008 PBA Draft, Castro won the coveted individual award over teammate Ranidel de Ocampo, Air21’s Asi Taulava and San Miguel Beer stalwarts June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos, thus, automatically becoming an official candidate for the season MVP award.
Castro topped the stats race and gained the nod of the media, the players and the PBA Commissioner’s Office to win the BPC derby with 1,163 points as against De Ocampo’s 831.
A winner from his collegiate days with PCU and in his stint in the semi-pros with Harbour Centre and Hapee Toothpaste, Castro looks ripe to win the MVP honors after becoming the league’s Most Improved Player in 2011, being part of the Mythical Second Team in 2011 and 2012 then breaking the Mythical Five Selection last year. He also had two Final MVP citations.
Also embellishing his 2013 coup was being cited as the Best Guard in the FIBA Asia Championship where Gilas Pilipinas secured a ticket to the coming 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.
But Castro stressed he would yield all these individual awards in exchange for championships.
“I would be completely happy only if we end up celebrating a championship in this tournament,” the 27-year-old pride son of Guagua, Pampanga said. (SB)
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