Allein Maliksi continues to torch the opposition
29-year-old Allein Maliksi is a late bloomer in the game. He never was a varsity player during his High School years and was only introduced to basketball when he was in college in the University of Santo Tomas, playing only one season with the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.
“Sa UST isang taon lang ako naglaro dun e tapos hindi pa ko gamit. Nung high school naman ako, hindi pa ako player nun,” the 6-foot-4 swingman recalled.
So when he had emphasized that he needed to fix his shooting form after their overtime loss to the Alaska Aces exactly 21 days ago, there’s a truth to it, as he is just in his seventh year of playing full-time competitive basketball.
“Yung sa Alaska game, yung last shot na nag-miss at yung dalawang potential game-winner na nag-miss din, nasa isip ko nun, it will either make you or break you.
“Chinallenge ko yung sarili ko na i-improve pa yung shooting ko at finocus ko yung mindset ko na lahat ng proper technique para magawa ko para mataas yung percentage ko,” Maliksi shared.
Ever since that game, Maliksi has been playing on a whole other level. 
During the last four games, he has been averaging 24.25 points on an unconscious 63.63 percent clip. And according to him, with the pace that he is playing, he had wanted to break the 30-point barrier during their blowout wins against Blackwater and Meralco.
“Last two games ko pa gusto makuha yun kaso medyo mga blowout na yun kaya hindi na kami pinasok ni coach. Yung minutes ko rin nun 20 minutes lang ata,” he said.
But in their last game of the elimination round against the Mahindra Floodbuster, he was finally given the chance to reset his career-high, dropping 33 points on 7-of-8 shooting from distance.
“May isa akong missed three, kaso parang foul yun. Sayang perfect shooting sana,” quipped Maliksi, as he felt that he had been fouled by Bong Galanza with 50 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
But being perfectly honest, he himself could not believe the zone that he had been in.
During one sequence in the third quarter (2:10 remaining to be exact), Paul Lee made a swing pass to him for a corner triple. As the shot went in, he shot a bewildered look at Lee, trying to ask if this was actually happening.
“Sabi ko parang on fire na yung nararamdaman ko. Nung first half pa lang nararamdaman ko na na mainit na yung kamay ko,” he furthered.
But the work is not yet over, according to him. For Star’s leading scorer, he just wants to continue to fill the void left by Purefoods icon James Yap.
“Gusto ko din itaas yung level ng basketball ko. Ito na yung chance to grab the break yung opportunity na binibigay sa kin,” he added.
Not bad for a player who just started playing competitive basketball some seven years ago.
