ANTIPOLO – A nagging shoulder injury that’s been bothering him led Jamie Malonzo to pull out of the slam dunk contest in the PBA All-Star Weekend in Passi City, Iloilo.
Jamie Malonzo on withdrawing from dunk contest
Malonzo, 26, listened to his body which has been doing a lot of basketball the past few weeks that he decided just to skip participating in the All-Star side event.
“All these games, I had been playing a lot of stuff, so I just decided to take this one easy,” said Malonzo after Barangay Ginebra’s 109-104 win over Terrafirma Dyip in the PBA Governors Cup Wednesday night at the Ynares Center.
Malonzo also apologized to the fans for the decision, especially him being the consensus favorite to win the dunk contest in the return of the All-Star Weekend after a three-year absence.
With Malonzo out, the dunkfest is now down to a four-man competition amongst Tyrus Hill of Blackwater, David Murrell of Converge, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser of NLEX, and Phoenix’s Chris Lalata.
Nonetheless, the high-flying forward vows to put up a show for the fans as he will still be in Passi City as part of Team Japeth that will battle Team Scottie in the featured All-Star game.
“I will be there at the All-Star game and I will show the dunks I got. I’ll give you what I got,” said Malonzo.
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