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Yap bags 2nd MVP plum, dedicates award to son


After a season of adversity, James Yap earned a much-deserved second Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the annual Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Leo Awards Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

B-Meg Derby Ace's James Yap (2nd right) acknowledges the crowd after winning his second PBA MVP award while league chairman Rene Pardo (from left), former chairman and now Bureau of Customs commissioner Lito Alvarez and PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios look on. GMANews.TV
Yap, who copped the highest individual award in the league's 35th season, was chosen over a list of contenders that included Arwind Santos and Jay Washington of San Miguel Beer and LA Tenorio and Sonny Thoss of Alaska. In becoming the top local player this year, Yap battled through injuries, including a black eye suffered in the playoffs, and a marriage to Kris Aquino that was disintegrating before millions of TV viewers. The Escalante, Negros Occidental native led his injury-plagued team to overachieve in the most recent PBA playoffs, defeating a healthier and younger Rain or Shine squad before falling to heavy favorite San Miguel in the semifinals. The 6-foot-2 forward, who played all of his first six years in the PBA with the old Purefoods/B-Meg Derby Ace franchise, accepted the award from PBA officials headed by commissioner Sonny Barrios, former chairman and now Bureau of Customs commissioner Lito Alvarez, and current chairman Rene Pardo. Yap became only the eighth player in an elite roster to win the league’s highest individual honor twice. The 28-year-old shooting guard out of University of the East, totaled 2577 points in the accumulated voting among the media, players, Solar-TV, and the PBA. He won by a total of 1038 points over Tenorio (1539) and Washington (756), whose achievement of bagging the Best Player of the Conference award in the Fiesta Cup made him a last-minute contender for the MVP title. The main man of Derby Ace, to be known as Petron for the 2010-11 season after Purefoods was sold without the basketball team, topped the media (1300), Solar-TV (600) and PBA (300) votes, but lost in the voting among players with merely 15 points as he finished third behind Tenorio (133) and Washington (129). Yap’s second MVP after first winning it as a sophomore in the 2005-06 season, made him only the eighth man in league history to win the MVP at least twice after William Adornado, Alberto Guidaben, Ramon Fernandez, Benjie Paras, Alvin Patrimonio, Danny Ildefonso, and Willie Miller. In an emotional acceptance speech, Yap, teary eyed and his voice cracking, dedicated his award to his son, James Aquino Yap Jr., more popularly known as ‘Baby James.’ “I would like to dedicate this award to the most special person in my life, Baby James," said Yap, who has not seen his son since Game Five of the semifinals of the Fiesta Conference last month. “I would like to thank God for giving me the strength," said Yap, whose marriage to celebrity and presidential sister Kris Aquino is now being annulled. “We cannot hide the personal things that are happening in my life. But I'm proud of myself because I still managed to perform well." The native of Escalante, Negros Occidental, also didn’t forget to thank San Miguel management, his teammates, and of course, his former coach Ryan Gregorio, set to join newcomer Meralco next season. “I would like to thank Coach Ryan (Gregorio)," he said. “There won't be a James Yap if not for Coach Ryan. He's been my only coach for the last six years." Yap made a case for the MVP plum after steering Purefoods to the Philippine Cup crown following a 4-0 sweep of the Alaska Aces in the finals.
Rico Maierhofer waves to the crowd after receiving his Rookie of the Year award. GMANews.TV
He was adjudged the Best Player of the Conference and emerged as the Finals MVP in that tournament. But his team failed to complete a rare sweep of the season after Derby Ace lost in six games to defending champion San Miguel Beer in the semifinals. As expected, Yap led the First Mythical Team composed of Tenorio, Washington, Santos (SMB) and Thoss (Alaska), while the Second Mythical Team is comprised of Asi Taulava, Kelly Williams and Mac-Mac Cardona of Talk ‘N Text, Joe Devance and Roger Yap. James Yap's teammate Rico Maierhofer was adjudged Rookie of the Year, beating Josh Urbiztondo of Sta. Lucia Realty (now Meralco), while Tenorio was named Most Improved Player. Cyrus Baguio of Alaska was awarded with the Sportsmanship Award. Santos, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood, Roger Yap and Ryan Reyes make up the All-Defensive team. JVP, RCJ, HGS, GMANews.TV
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