Scottie Thompson amazed at how a ‘role player’ like him can be BPC

Scottie Thompson was named as the Best Player of Conference for the PBA Season 46 Governors’ Cup during a simple awarding ceremony held prior to Game 4 of the best-of-seven championship series between Brgy. Ginebra and Meralco, Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The BPC award was a first-ever for the 28-year old, 5-time PBA champion and he readily admitted that he was surprised at getting the highly-coveted recognition.

“Hindi naman ako talagang scorer,” said Thompson. “Nagulat ako kasi pwede palang makakuha ng ganitong award yung mga role player, hardworking.“

Thompson finished second in the statistical points race but got overwhelming votes from the media, PBA players and the league itself to finish on top spot with total of 1,128. TNT rookie Mikey Williams came in second with 699 while SPs leader Robert Bolick of NorthPort rounded up the top 3 with 581.

A key factor to Thompson’s rise was the stellar performance of the Gin Kings who entered the playoffs as the 6th seed but was still able to barge into the Finals after going through higher-ranked teams NLEX and TNT in the quarters and semis, respectively.

And they did that despite missing the services of key players throughout the conference.

“Nakakagulat kasi ‘yun nga, up and down yung season namin. Nag-step up lang din lahat, especially ako, personally,” said Thompson.

“‘Yung mentality namin as a team, next man up. Nag step up din ako kasi sobrang daming injured sa amin,” he added.

After receiving the award, the Finals MVP of the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup immediately went to work and dropped 27 points as he, together with Best Import awardee Justin Brownlee, led the defending champs past the Bolts to equalize the Finals series at 2-games apiece heading into pivotal Game 5 which is scheduled on Easter Sunday at the same venue.