Fonacier or Castro? Who REALLY deserves the Finals MVP

When the buzzer sounded and the balloons started falling for the Talk n' Text Tropang Texters in last night's title-clinching Game 5 victory, there was a lot of speculation going around as to who will be named Finals Most Valuable Player.

Finals MVP: Larry Fonacier

It all ended of course, when the champions took the platform to receive the Philippine Cup Perpetual Trophy and one Larry "Baby Faced Assassin" Fonacier was named Finals MVP much to the delight of fans and teammates. After averaging 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists and making the Powerade Tigers' feared gunner Gary David work on both ends of the floor, Fonacier's success was well received by most who credited his championship poise, maturity and overall basketball IQ as a big reason why the Texters weren't suckered into a shootout.

There are those whoever, who are quick to counter that teammate Jayson "The Blur" Castro is just as worthy of the citation (averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the Finals)-- if not, MORE deserving.

Based on the stats, Fonacier's numbers increased during the Finals while Castro's was a little uneven (he only managed 10 points in Game 3 to Fonacier's 25). While Castro usually runs to the rim to ignite the Texters' offense and spread the floor for his shooters, Fonacier does it with more purpose. Not that Fonacier is a better player than Castro, but in a series of runs, a guy who could dictate the tempo and take control of the game will always prove to be invaluable.

Castro was running much like the Tigers' were running. Veteran PG and reigning PBA MVP Jimmy Alapag was jacking 30 ft threes in retaliation for every David bomb or JVee Casio lean-in three. The Texters were pretty much engaging the Tigers in a tit-for-tat style shoot-out which worked in their favor if only for their superior manpower. Great television basketball, but definitely not something that purists and coaches would be comfortable to see in a title series.

Still waiting for The Blur's 1st MVP win

A big factor that could've hurt Castro's Finals MVP bid other than that 10 point showing, is that  he averaged three turnovers a game which is always a big minus for any superstar (David averaged 5 turnovers this Finals).

On the other side, Fonacier barely turned the ball over thanks largely to his conservative style. Ever the traditional shooting guard, Fonacier was happy rotating the basketball to find the open man, shoot threes when he's the one open and drive when David was napping on the defensive end (which was a lot-- but only because he's expected to do so much on offense).

Either way, you really can't go wrong with naming Fonacier or Castro Finals MVP in this one. Though this writer feels that Castro has been somewhat robbed by his teammates for the nth time (having to share Finals MVP twice with Alapag last season, and losing out on the MVP award-- settling for Most Improved and now another Finals MVP to Fonacier). But really now, we bet that if you were to ask both players who should win Finals MVP-- they'd say that it doesn't matter, as long as it's in the fold and they're the champs.

Hats off to both players for a superb series.