HEROES came aplenty in Sta. Lucia's quest-ending claim of the Philippine Basketball Association Governor' Cup, which ended the Realtors' search for a franchise's first-ever league title.
So much so that Norman Black couldn't figure himself which guy really stood out.
"That' a tough question. Everybody deserves to be the hero. Dennis Espino played really good, Marlou Aquino's defense made the difference for us, Paolo Mendoza, Gerard Francisco and Chris Tan all hit big shots. You guys have your work cut out for you," said the Sta. Lucia coach when asked to help in the selection of the Finals Most Valuable Player award.
Pushed to give a single name, Black pondered and ended up stumped. It was as if some masked vagrant mugged him in an unlit parking lot and he was being told to pinpoint the culprit in a police lineup.
"I'll leave that up to you," Black said.
Perhaps that's the greatest testament of what Gerard Francisco really meant to the Realtors. That in a team dotted with heroes, he stood out when sportswriters voted for the Finals MVP.
A look at Francisco's numbers won't reveal a white-collar superstar in the mold of teammates Espino and Aquino. In fact, they are modest numbers: 29 minutes per game, 9.7 points and outing and 6.2 rebounds a night. But that did not stop the votes from piling in his favor.
In fact, the former Santo Tomas hero drew six first-place votes and six second-place votes to win the Finals MVP trophy, beating Dennis Espino, who cornered a lot of second-place votes to finish second.
Told that Francisco had an edge in the race, Black said: "I'm sure Gerard deserves it. If he is not the best player in the series, he certainly is the most improved. He really bloomed in the series."
Maybe Webster ought to cook up a new word for the word bloomed so there could be a perfect description for the metamorphosis Francisco underwent in the series. He didn' just step up and be noticed. He exploded. He crashed into the public's basketball psyche the way a napalm blast assaults the visual senses.
In Game One, which was a pivotal win, Gerard had 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against an already overmatched San Miguel frontline to key Sta. Lucia's 86-80 victory.
In Game Three, he hit six of his ten attempts from the field and drained three three-pointers to finish with 15 points as the realtors took a 2-1 edge with an 83-74 triumph.
And in the title-clinching Game Six, where Chris Tan's three-pointer with three seconds left raged all over the headlines, Francisco also played a pivotal role, knocking in two treys in the fourth to help slow a furious San Miguel rally in the stretch.
"Those were two very big three-pointers because it came at a time when Lamont Strothers and Danny Seigle were starting to get hot," Black said.
In winning the award, Francisco beat Espino and teammates Aquino, Paolo Mendoza and Chris Tan. And there is no doubt there'll be more room for his heroics when he finally takes on a deserved superstar-status next year.