Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Yap, Williams lead All-Star '08 voting
MANILA—Two of the key players who figured prominently in the last Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Finals emerged as the leading vote getters in the balloting for the coming All-Star game in Bacolod City.
Hotshot Purefoods guard James Yap and exciting Sta. Lucia forward Kelly Williams currently show the way in the race for the two starting units that will comprise the North and South teams, respectively.
Yap, the former league Most Valuable Player (MVP) already amassed a total of 37,776 votes—tops among the players—gathered from the period covering February 1 to March 23.
Adjudged the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) in the 2008 All-Filipino meet, the slam-dunking Williams had 28,176 votes to trail Yap at second place as the player considered a hit among PBA fans today.
Ironically, both are listed as part of the South All-Star team seeing action in the annual mid-season spectacle, with Williams earning the top spot in the forward-center position and Yap as the runaway choice in the position reserve among the guards.
Major roles
The two also played major roles with their respective teams in the Philippine Cup title series won by Williams and the rest of the Realtors in a thrilling, do-or-die Game 7 played last March 2.
Joining Yap and Williams in the provisional status are Magnolia’s Danny Seigle (27,768), Coke’s Asi Taulava (26,250) and Talk N Text playmaker Jimmy Alapag (16,203).
Yap’s Purefoods teammates Mark Pingris, Kerby Raymundo and Romel Adducul also amassed considerable votes to show the way among the big men in the North All-Star team. (PBA Media Bureau)
