Norwood or Castro for PBL MVP

The Most Valuable Player in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup will be a toss-up between Hapee Toothpaste’s talented Fil-Am Gabe Norwood and Harbour Centre hotshot Jason Castro.

The high-leaping Norwood has a slight edge over Castro in the statistical department with a league-high 2.1 steals, second-best 7.4 rebounds, fourth-best 4.9 assists, fifth-best 13.1 points and nearly a block (top 10) a game points in 18 games.

The former George Mason standout’s effort was enough to power the Complete Protectors to a second straight finals appearance and third overall in the last four conferences.

Castro, who won the award twice before, has averaged 15.2 points – second only to Noosa Shoes’ Noy Javier with 17.7 points –and 5.2 boards and 4.1 assists in 18 matches to help the four-peat champions Batang Pier book a fifth straight championship stint.

Castro would have an edge over Norwood if league statisticians count the won game-points since the Mikee Romero-owned franchise has won 16 of its 18 games, including a three-game semifinal sweep of San Mig Coffee while Hapee had a 13-6 (win-loss) slate.

Statistics account for two-thirds of the percentage to become an MVP while the other third will be taken from player and media votes, which recently drew to a close.

In the voting, Castro and Norwood are sure to get a fair share since the two players have good rapport with players and media.

Other long shot picks to snare the award are Javier, rebound leader Jam Alfad of Pharex, assists leader Ronnie Bughao of Pharex and shot block leader Jayson Ballesteros of Burger King.

The league will announce the winner in Wednesday’s Game 3 at the Batangas City Sports Complex.