Big winners: Hollis-Jefferson, Tolentino named conference-best

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of the TNT Tropang Giga collected his third Best Import of the Conference award while Arvin Tolentino of the NorthPort Batang Pier won his first Best Player of the Conference (BPC) honors in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Friday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

It was Hollis-Jefferson’s third Best Import award after beating Kadeem Jack of NorthPort, Deon Thompson of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, and Justin Brownlee of Barangay Ginebra, who played in Game 4 despite dislocating his right thumb in Game 3 last Wednesday.

What makes this award so special for Hollis-Jefferson, the former Brooklyn Nets swingman, was seeing his mother Rylanda in the stands for the first time to watch him live in a PBA game.

“It’s her first time coming to see me play abroad so, I’m looking forward to that,” Hollis-Jefferson said.

“Hopefully we make her proud.”

Hollis-Jefferson averaged 28.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists while also leading all imports in blocks with 1.8 per game as he is tied with Brownlee and former Meralco Bolts reinforcement Allen Durham for the second-most Best Import honors with three awards each.

Jack posted 31.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks an outing to finish in second place in the Best Import race while Thompson averaged 24.8 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.2 steals for third.

Brownlee logged 23.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.0 steals as he finished in fourth place.

TNT is going up against the Kings in Game 4 of the Commissioner’s Cup at press time in hopes of securing a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven championship series.

Meanwhile, Tolentino carried NorthPort after it finished with a 9-3 win-loss record, its best league record and made it as far as the semifinals before losing to Ginebra in the semis.

He averaged 23 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks as he bested the likes of Calvin Oftana of the Tropang Giga and Jordan Heading of the Converge FiberXers, June Mar Fajardo of the San Miguel Beermen, and Robert Bolick of the NLEX Road Warriors

The former Far Eastern University star was the second NorthPort player to clinch this prestigious award after Christian Standhardinger did the trick in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup.

Tolentino admitted that while he would have wanted to guide NorthPort to its first-ever PBA finals, the BPC award is still a nice touch after all his hard work paid off.

“It’s gonna be my first BPC award. It’s a reward for really pushing myself every day, for working hard and trying to be better,” Tolentino said.

“Although we didn’t make it to the finals, we didn’t win it all, it’s a big bonus.”

Oftana delivered 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists as he helped the TNT reach the finals for a second straight time this season while Heading normed 17.7 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.5 rebounds.

Fajardo, who had 20.1 points, 16.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 block, and Bolick, who dropped 23.5 points, 7.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds, were early favorites for the BPC plum but fell out after their respective squads failed to reach the semifinals.