NorthPort star Arvin Tolentino remains a top contender for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference.

However, he has one big “what if” in what could be a marquee tournament in his career.

And that is playing the same way he did during the elimination round up to the quarterfinals.

Tolentino’s numbers dipped in the best-of-seven semifinals that saw the top-seeded Batang Pier drop three straight games before staving off an embarrassing sweep in Game 4 against well-experienced Barangay Ginebra.

The NorthPort forward averaged 11.6 points per night in the first three games of the series — a far cry from his eliminations average of 23 markers per outing.

He redeemed himself in Game 4 with a near triple-double of 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in a 108-103 victory last Wednesday as the Batang Pier avoided the Kings’ broom.

But it might come a little too late with NorthPort fighting for dear life to extend the series further in Game 5 being played as of press time at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“I guess there’s regret. I wish I could’ve played better right from the start,” the 29-year-old Tolentino said.

The Batang Pier were a shell of what they used to be when they finished on top with a 9-3 win-loss card in the elims led by Tolentino, import Kadeem Jack, Will Navarro and Joshua Munzon when they got ran over by Ginebra by an average of 20.6 points winning margin in the first three matches.

“But I try to avoid looking back at our past three games. Of course, you’ll think that if only we played better since Game 1, we could’ve enhanced our chances or at least taken an extra win,” Tolentino added.

“But we couldn’t do anything about the past. What is important right now is to look forward.”

Only San Miguel Beer has overcome a 0-3 deficit when it shocked Alaska in the 2016 Philippine Cup.

Tolentino, who sits at second spot in the BPC race with 39.9 statistical points after the elims, is fancied to win the tournament’s highest individual award after stats leader June Mar Fajardo (42.0 sps) failed to carry the dethroned Beermen into the playoffs.