The Final Score: Arwind Santos is the inconspicuous MVP

It was a classic Arwind Santos moment, really. Arwind captured the 2013 PBA MVP trophy the way he snatches rebounds. May element lagi of surprise.

[Related: Santos gets MVP nod while Abueva earns ROY honors]

If you’re out there fighting for rebounds, you know you need to push some guys away, or wrestle some guys to the ground. With Arwind, however, you can’t just push or wrestle him towards a certain direction. It’s useless to initiate barbaric hand-to-hand combat. He’s too sneaky. He’s too slippery. He’s too shrewd. It’s like trying to box-out a power forward who can teleport.

I know San Mig Coffee won game four of the Governors’ Cup Finals last night. I know Arwind scored just eight points and grabbed just three rebounds. I know he hasn’t been amazing in the Finals – just 9.5 ppg and 2.5 rpg. If Petron wins the title, I know June Mar Fajardo should be Finals MVP – 17 ppg, 14 rpg in four games so far.

Yet I also know this:

A 12-point and 12-rebound night for Arwind is a regular night. If he tallies 12 and 12 against any team, we won’t be shocked. He’s that good. He’s been that good for so long.

I understand if others believe Jayson Castro should’ve been MVP. I likewise understand if others believe LA Tenorio should’ve been MVP. In a recent episode of FTW, I said Tenorio was my 2013 MVP.

Do I have a problem though with Arwind winning the MVP award over Castro and Tenorio?

None.

Absolutely none.

I suppose it takes non-linear thinking to fully appreciate what Arwind does.

He’s not a one-on-one assassin. When he takes on a defender one-on-one, it’s kind of a strange spectacle. Parang hindi bagay.

He isn’t synonymous with hitting game-winners. That’s less Santos and more Cabagnot.

It’s hard to recall Arwind’s iconic moments. I’m sure there are, I just can’t remember them now. Oh wait, I do remember one iconic moment….kailan lang yun…(shakes head)…yung inano siya ni ano…(pause)…but it’s not the kind you want to be remembered for.

It would’ve been easier to portray Arwind as league MVP if he was the prototype end-game hero. If he always had the ball with seconds left. If Petron’s fate depended on his buzzer-beating exploits. If he makes it, they win. If he misses it, they lose. Pero hindi siya ganun. It’s not a simple case of cause and effect.

In Arwind’s ascension from talented PBA player to franchise star, I don’t think he ever tried to create big moments people would never forget. Maybe he’s just always after the result. It’s not the spectacular slug-it-out box-out maneuver that matters, it’s getting the rebound. Over and over.

Perhaps his tough childhood in Pampanga taught him to love the dirty work. He grew up alternating street games with odd jobs. His adolescence intersected with life on the road – traveling all over Central Luzon playing basketball against men twice his age. Lahat mas malapad, mas malaki, mas magulang. It was a difficult way to learn the game.

At the end of long days, a teenager goes back to their small house, drags his tired, skinny body into his small room. He stares at the bare wall. They couldn’t even afford to paint the walls. Asa pa kung may wallpaper. Maybe he entertains himself by looking at the wrinkled posters on his wall. Surely he falls asleep knowing tomorrow will be another hard day.

Naniniwala ako na hindi goal ni Arwind ang sumikat. Naniniwala ako na ang goal ni Arwind from the very start was to be successful. Judging by how he plays, how he piles up all those points and rebounds, year after year, I believe he knows the difference.

It’s an interesting quality. A player tallies a double-double and not everyone notices how he does it. Magugulat ka na lang. He quietly competes for BPC trophies like clockwork. He quietly contends for the top awards every conference, every season. He quietly collects Best Player of the Game honors. He quietly helps Petron win 11 straight games. He quietly helps Petron finish with the best record after the elimination round. He quietly makes his way into the list of 2013 MVP contenders.

And then…a classic Arwind Santos moment.

He surprises some of us by winning the 2013 PBA MVP trophy. Typical Arwind – gugulatin ka na lang sa dulo. But because he’s still that same scrawny fighter of a kid from Lubao, the one who doesn’t want to be a star but relentlessly wants to succeed, I’m happy to say, it’s not really that surprising. - AMD, GMA News