It just felt great for Jamie Malonzo to dunk again after serving one of the best highlight plays in Ginebra’s conquest of NorthPort to move one win away from sweeping its way to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
The 28-year-old winger caught the lob of RJ Abarrientos and flushed it with both hands, completing an alley-oop connection that sent the pro-Kings crowd filling the SMART Araneta Coliseum into jubilation.
“It feels great. I haven’t been dunking at all and I’m starting to feel my legs under me again,” he said after their 127-100 win in Game 4 of the semis on Sunday. “And yeah, it feels great to be able to finally get up in the air again and flush the ball.”
That dunk helped show that Malonzo is regaining his old form after his absence for several months due to a calf injury. His numbers backed that up as well.
The Gilas stalwart finished with 25 points — with a 4-of-5 clip from three-point distance — and eight rebounds to lead the Kings’ second-quarter pull-away toward the rout.
But Malonzo believes — and coach Tim Cone as well — that he’s only about 85-percent of the way to his shape before the injury back in April of last year, which required going under the knife.
“Coach said 85-percent,” he said while sharing a chuckle with his mentor. “So hopefully somewhere around there. Trying to get to 90 soon, just keep trying to use these games to get as close as I can to my normal self, for sure.”
While he continues to tread the road toward that completion he’s aiming for, Malonzo remains thankful for the support the Barangay has given him.
“To be honest, it’s hard to come up with the words with how thankful I am to be getting back into the things,” said the former UAAP Mythical Team member
“And when I think about my teammates’ support, the coaches’ support, of course the management as well, they’ve been by my side the whole way.
“When I think about that, they make it easy for me, day in and day out, to get back to my normal self,” Malonzo furthered.
#WATCH: “THE FIRST GROUP WAS GOOD, BUT THE SECOND GROUP WAS GREAT!” 🔥
Coach Tim Cone praises Ginebra’s bench mob, led by Jamie Malonzo and RJ Abarrientos, as they power the Kings to a dominant Game 3 win in the #PBA2025 semifinals 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times… pic.twitter.com/FJyaNAnbof
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) March 2, 2025
