A Best Player of the Game on the eve of his birthday. Now, a Player of the Week a day after he turned 26.
Robert Bolick led NorthPort to a sweep of its three games in a week’s span following the team’s return to action in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The prolific guard from Samar averaged 19.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists in the Batang Pier’s three straight wins that saw them romp past Blackwater, Terrafirma, and NLEX at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym.
Bolick capped the team’s unbeaten run by matching his career-high 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field in a 96-94 victory over the Road Warriors, where he was named Best Player of the Game hours before he celebrated his birthday on Sept. 13.
With Bolick leading the charge in NorthPort’s sudden rise in the standings at 4-3 and back in contention for a quarterfinals berth, the 6’1” combo guard out of San Beda is named Cignal Play-PBA Player of the Week for the period Sept. 8 to 12.
TnT Tropang Giga rookie guard Mikey Williams also got a piece of the votes in the weekly citation handed out by the group of men and women regularly covering the PBA beat, but not enough to dislodge Bolick for the individual honor.
Others in contention were Bolick’s fellow NorthPort teammate Jamie Malonzo, the Phoenix duo of Jason Perkins and Matthew Wright, San Miguel’s Terrence Romeo and Marcio Lassiter, and Rain or Shine’s Javee Mocon and rookie Leonard Santillan.
Despite his individual brilliance, Bolick deferred to his teammates and credited them for making possible the Batang Pier’s unbeaten run for a week with team manager and interim coach Bonnie Tan calling the shots.
“Inspired lang kami talaga maglaro. Gusto naming umangat ngayon. Maraming magandang pieces ngayon. Solid ‘yung performance namin hindi lang sa akin,” he said.
At the same time, Bolick dedicated all of NorthPort’s win to the entire team coaching staff headed by Pido Jarencio, who continues to be under the league’s health and safety protocols.
