CEBU, Philippines - Bobby Motus, my fellow deadline beater, commented that LeBron or Kobe is the hands-down choice for this NBA season’s MVP plum. In passing he mentioned Dwyane Wade as another candidate but pointed out that Wade’s team isn’t doing well, thus despite his “comparably superb stats” he won’t win the coveted trophy.
This is a curious case of Dwyane Wade. When it comes to scoring, he’s leading the pack with 29.9 ppg compared to LeBron’s 28.5 and Kobe’s 28.0. In the assists department he again leads the three contenders with 7.6, while LeBron has 7.2 and Kobe with 4.9. In steals, his 2.26 average is second to Chris Paul. Last week, Wade was averaging 43.3 points (53.8 percent shooting), 6.7 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 4.0 steals during last week’s winning streak.
“The Flash” has had two 50-point games on top of scoring three 40-plus points in eight games just for the month of March earning him two eastern Player of the Month awards so far.
All this effort, however, seems to be going to naught because Wade’s team, although it’s winning, isn’t winning enough games. At the rate the team is going, they will win tops 45 games. The team will be in the playoffs but won’t be enjoying homecourt advantage at all.
Writers and broadcasters will vote for the MVP at the end of regular season. Almost always they vote for a player from a winning team (team with at least 50 wins). There were instances when an MVP was chosen from a “losing” team but it was a long, long time ago and it’s unlikely it’ll happen this season with majority of the voters favoring LeBron.
Wade, whether he likes it or not, has to wait another season to add a regular season MVP trophy to his 2006 finals plum.
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About two weeks ago, I watched a CYBL game at USC-NC gym. It was a championship match in the U-13 Division A between USC-NC and Don Bosco. When I came, the first quarter had already started and when I took my seat beside Rico Navarro, I thought the game would be uneventful.
I was in for a big surprise.
The boys played their hearts out. The game was fast, I think even faster than some league games played by big boys.
The defense impressed me. From the first quarter to the last second, there was man-to-man, pressing defense. I mean, these boys seem to have boundless energy, never tiring a bit.
I applauded as these boys ran perfect-textbook fastbreak plays.
Most of all, the boys were all ears to their coach. There were no Prima Donnas although I know some of them will be the superstars of the future. When the coach spews out instructions during huddles, the boys are attentive, and more often than not, they execute the play the coach had illustrated.
The future of Cebu basketball could never be brighter with so much young talents to tap.
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Belated birthday greetings to my sister-in-law Celeste Aldemita. We call her “Upaw” although she has a crown of flowing dark brown hair and would tease by asking if she had already comb her hair. She possesses a goodness of heart that makes her the favorite aunt of my children. May you have more birthdays in the years to come, ‘Paw!
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