SMART CLARK GIGA CITY--Instrumental in igniting Magnolia's hot streak in the PBA bubble, deadly scorer Paul Lee was chosen as the Cignal TV-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week award for the period of November 3 to 8.
Lee waxed hot with 25.3 points on top of 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists to spark the five-game winning roll of the Hotshots, who came back to life from a 1-4 start and put themselves in contention for a twice-to-beat bonus heading the Philippine Cup playoffs.
Coming off the brief postponement, the "Angas ng Tondo" came out with guns ablaze as he fired 27 points to power Magnolia past erstwhile leader TNT, 102-92, last Wednesday.
The 31-year-old guard dropped 29 points in a 103-89 walloping of Terrafirma the next day then went on a 31-point explosion, including two crucial fadeaway jumpers against Javee Mocon, in a 70-62 victory over Rain or Shine last Saturday.
Lee cooled down with 14 points, but his production that included six rebounds and eight assists proved vital in their 83-76 triumph over NorthPort last Sunday.
The three-time PBA champion edged out Ginebra's Stanley Pringle, Phoenix's RJ Jazul, Meralco's Chris Newsome and NLEX's backcourt duo of Kevin Alas and Jericho Cruz for the weekly citation given by members of the media covering the PBA.
Meanwhile, Meralco's Aaron Black was named Rookie of the Week, beating Terrafirma's Roosevelt Adams and Magnolia's Aris Dionisio.
Black tallied 5.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists off the bench for the Bolts, who clinched their first All-Filipino quarterfinal berth in five years after taking three wins against a loss last week.