Philippine Showbiz Today

October 22 June - November 22 - July 7 , 2017 2018

Basketball

On June 25 , the NBA will honor Season 2017-2018 ’ s top individual performers in its Awards Night at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica , California .

With barely over a week away from the much-awaited ceremony , only James Harden of the Houston Rockets , Western Conference ’ s losing finalists , looks a cinch to clinch the much-coveted Most Valuable Player honor in the eyes of the CBS Sports Awards experts , who are unanimous in their pick .

Making up the Awards experts panel are sports journalists James Herbert , Brad Botkin , Reid Forgrave , Colin Ward-Henninger , Jack Maloney and Chris Barnewal .

Other top contenders for the highest individual honor are Russell Westbrook , of the Oklahoma City Thunder , controversial winner of last year ’ s derby who failed to lead his team past the first round of the playoffs , Cleveland Cavaliers ’ forward LeBron James , Milwaukee Bucks ’ forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Warriors teammates Kevin Durant

Association welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse gears towards tactics and strategies .

The normal routine , sparring and other ring stuff , roadwork , etc , -- will continue but with a lesser frequency , according to strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune with the raining team , headed by Buboy Fernandez giving ample time on charting game plans on how to make the Filipino former belt-owner now challenger win .

The soon-to-be 40-year-old Philippine Senator is challenging the heavy-punching 35-year-old Argentine titleholder , nicknamed “ La Maquina ,” for his aggressive style of fighting , for the latter ’ s 147-pound crown on Sunday , July 15 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur .

“ We ’ ll continue with what we started and keep Manny where he is today , but this time , three weeks before we leave the country , we ’ ll also have to spend time drawing game plans on how to beat Lucas ,” Fortune , owner of Fortune Boing Gym at the heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles , said .

“ We ’ ve been watching tapes of Matthysse ’ s latest fights , even his losses to ( Victor ) Postol and ( Danny ) Garcia , the past several days and

and Stephen Curry of backto-back NBA champion Golden State Warriors .

Contenders were named as a result of fan votes that gave players five vote for first place , three for second one for third .

The names of Durant , this and last season ’ s backto-back Finals MVP , and Curry were not included in the original list of nominees and were added only after the Warriors beat then Rockets in seven games to arrange the stage for a showdown with the Cavs for the title .

Both are considered long shots though to win the top award , which put premium more on individual performance of the contenders their value to their teams .

Awards experts are one in selecting Harden for MVP , but not everyone sees eye-to-eye when it comes to Rookie of the Year , Defensive Player of the Year or who should be Coach of the Year .

we ’ ve found several defects and weaknesses in his style , which we ’ ll try to exploit We also found where his strength and we , certainly , will find solution to offset ” said Fortune , a former Australian heavyweight campaigner .

“ Lucas is definitely strong and dangerous and has one the best trainers in the business ,” Fortune said in reference to the champ ’ s trainer Joel Diaz . “ But as we ’ ve noticed , he has not a few bad habits and weaknesses Manny can easily capitalize on .”

Fortune expects a good fight boxing fans will surely enjoy “ especially if Matthysse decides to mix it up with Manny . That makes it more interesting .”

“ We ’ re preparing Manny for a worse scenario and we know they ’ re preparing for us . So , it ’ ll boil down to who prepares well , where , Instagram I believe

Five of the CBS experts choose Ben Simmons for the ROY award with one voting for Donovan Mitchell . The DPOY went to Rudy Gobert , who garnered four votes as against Joel Embiid ’ s two .

If the experts ’ choice comes true to form , Boston ’ s Brad Stevens should win the Coach off the Year honor at the expense Toronto ’ s Dwayne Casey same with Daryl Morey who looks to have the edge over Danny Ainge for the Executive of the Year race .

Like in the MVP derby , the

CBS panel seems to favor Victor Oladipo as the Most Improved Player . Ditto for Lou Williams as the Sixth Man of the Year .

Besides the league ’ s top awards , including the MVP , ROY and DPOY , also to be announced are the composition of the All-NBA teams as well as several honors dunk of the Year and Performance of the Year .

Harden emerges as the runaway winner of the MVP , panel member Botkin reason out , for being the best player on the best team all season . He led the league in scoring at over 30 a game and was fourth in assists .

“ And , most importantly , he ’ s been the runner-up two of the last three years . It ’ s his turn . You can argue about whether that should ( be used ) as factor into the award , but the reality is that it does . Harden will win MVP , and it won ’ t be close .,” Botkin explained . ●

Pacquiao lands a hard left to sparring mate Goerge Kambsos , Jr . during sparring session at the Wildcard Gym in General Santos City we ’ ll have the edge .”

“ Manny , after more than two decades of fighting , is still on top of his game with some low points ,” he quipped .

Photo by Wendell Alinea / MP Promotions

“ But those , I ’ m sure , taught him lessons and make him a more intelligent fighter . That ’ ll be his biggest advantage in this fight ,” Fortune said . ●