Jamie Malonzo is just in his first-ever PBA Finals appearance yet the young winger already has a moment he’ll be cherishing for a long time three games in.
That, of course, is the cold-blooded three-pointer he made that served as one of Barangay Ginebra’s killer blows to ultimately complete the fightback and upend Bay Area, 89-82, for the 2-1 lead in the Commissioner’s Cup title bout.
And to do so in front of a loud 15,000 pro-Kings crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay makes it all the more special for the 26-year-old.
“Yea, it was big,” he said shortly after emerging from the team’s dugout.
“It was big. Definitely one of the good moments I’ve had so far with this team.”
That trey of his pushed their lead to five, 84-79, with 50.4 seconds remaining, proving that he can also be relied on when the going gets tough.
But ever selfless, Malonzo felt prouder to have repaid the trust of Scottie Thompson, who dished the kickout for that clutch shot from the wing.
“Super big,” he said of the reigning MVP’s confidence in him. “He’s our leader, so the fact that he was able to trust me on that, it’s a good feeling.
“He’s just always going to make the right play,” the sophomore out of La Salle furthered. “So I was lucky enough to get the shot, and had to make it.”
That particular play, for Malonzo, was sort of a reminder of the one lesson he has learned thus far as he competes for a title for the first time.
“I’m starting to realize, you know, like, this is my first Finals experience, we gotta be selfless,” said the 6-foot-6 cager, who finished with 10 points.
“It’s all about doing it together as a team. This being my first Finals experience, I’m starting to realize that it would need crazy team effort to get this done. I’m just happy we’re grinding it out together,” he added.
Momentum has gotten on the side of Ginebra following Wednesday night’s win but Malonzo refuses to get caught up with it, instead choosing to focus on what he and the Barangay will have to do for Game Four.
“We got two more, we can’t get too high on that game right there… we got more work to do, for sure,” he said.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
