CHICAGO - As NorthPort fell to an 0-3 hole in their semifinals series against Ginebra, brutalized by a combined 62 points, a prominent Batang Pier was noticeably missing in action.
Arvin Tolentino.
In those three consecutive blowout games, the 6-foot-5, 210-lb wing averaged a pedestrian 11.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per.
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And he shot the ball like he needed cataract surgery, just 4-of-21 from 3 (19 percent) and 12-of-42 from the field overall (28.5 percent).
With that mysterious anomaly, the conspiracy theorists had a field day.
Was he abducted by aliens? Was his family held hostage? Or did someone threaten him with great bodily harm?
RETURN OF THE JEDI.
The answers to all of the above, of course, are a sweeping "No."
Arvin Tolentino is back, baby.
Finally, mercifully, the 10th overall pick of the 2019 PBA Rookie Draft brought his A game to the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night and helped NorthPort bounce the Kings, 108-103, to avoid a disgraceful sweep.
The 29-year old former college star by way of FEU and Ateneo was simply phenomenal with 20 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists. He shot 40 percent from 3 (2-of-5) and 50 percent overall (7-of-14).
Unfortunately, it's a case of too late the hero. This is like a scene in a familiar war movie where the main protagonist is already mortally wounded and bleeding profusely when the reinforcements arrive.
MORAL VICTORY.
The Batang Pier's Game Four win did not save their season. It merely allowed them to save face.
The Game Four triumph, however, sealed the Best Player Conference award for Tolentino. He's proven that he can indeed play on the big stage, not just in the elimination round where the powerhouse teams sometimes sleep through.
What Game Four's outcome did not change is the big picture: Ginebra will advance to the Commissioner's Cup Finals.
And that's the scenario that has made PBA fans recoil. Because even a good thing can be bad when it's being served again and again and again.
And the inference that NorthPort allegedly has corporate relations with SMC doesn't help, either. It's unfair and unfounded, but it's a terrible optic for the league nonetheless.
For all the talk about Converge rising up and NorthPort becoming a No. 1 seed in this conference, the Commissioner's Cup is shaping up to be another SMC-MVP Group finale.
So instead of using the words riveting and exhilarating to describe the upcoming Finals, we arrive at the same place we've been to so many times before.
At the intersection of boring and predictable.
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