As expected, Barangay Ginebra guard Jayjay Helterbrand was named the PBA's Most Valuable Player last night, but his celebration did not last long, as he limped off the court in the fourth quarter of game 4 of Ginebra's best-of-seven Finals series against San Miguel. The Beermen capitalized and tied the series at two apiece with a 106-104 win.

It still feels weird that Helterbrand has an MVP while his more celebrated teammate, Mark "The Spark" Caguioa, does not. Of course, Helterbrand is busting his ass for Ginebra and playing through various nagging injuries, while Caguioa is still out rehabbing his sore pussy injured knee.

Then again, there's a precedent for all of this. A few years ago, an off-guard rose to stardom with an exciting offensive arsenal that literally took away the fans' collective breath. But nagging injuries sidelined the exciting player, so his teammate, an unheralded combo guard with a golden shooting touch, took on more responsibility for the team. The understudy stepped up so well in the star's absence that he ended up leading his team to a championship and winning the Most Valuable Player. The exciting guard was the Skywalker, Samboy Lim, while his cinderella teammate was the Atom Bomb, Ato Agustin, who led San Miguel to the All-Filipino title in 1992 over defending champion Purefoods. Everyone remembers Samboy to be the better player, but it was Ato who won the chip as the MVP.

Helterbrand's hamstring is a major concern for Ginebra, but he will have ample time to rest as the PBA decided to go on a four-day break before game 5, with the Araneta Coliseum booked for its usual playing days on Friday (WWE Smackdown) and Sunday (UAAP Opening Weekend). The fifth game of the series will be played on Monday, July 13.

It's a curious decision for the league, because while it would certainly get larger revenue from the bigger venue, they're also sacrificing their Sunday primetime spot, which is usually the most watched timeslot for PBA games. The league would not be losing money from smaller ratings -- they're guaranteed to be payed by Solar Sports no matter their ratings -- but it's a decidedly short-term decision considering that higher ratings would be more attractive to advertisers for the next conferences. It also limits the exposure of both finalists, because while they'll be playing for a bigger crowd, they most likely will have fewer people watching on television.