IT was one frustrating night for Allein Maliksi.
Held scoreless by Barangay Ginebra in Game 2 of the PBA Governors Cup Finals on Friday, the first order of business for the night for the Meralco gunner shortly after leaving the Mall of Asia Arena was to watch the game all over again.
“I’m watching the replay,” said Maliksi, who was one of the last players to leave the Meralco dugout. “Nagpalamig muna ako. Sama ng laro (ko).”
How bad his game was?
Well, the 34-year-old Maliksi was 0-of-7 from the floor and missed all his three attempts from beyond the arc in the 99-93 Meralco loss that levelled the best-of seven series at one-game apiece.
And considering he was coming off a 22-point effort, including 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range, in the Bolts’ 104-91 Game 1 win, his performance was certainly a letdown.
“Medyo impatient kami sa offense,” Maliksi admitted.
That showed early in the game when he missed all his first three shots as the Kings opened a 60-42 lead.
Maliksi was already 0-of-5 from the floor at that point.
Allein Maliksi struggles in the second game after a stellar series opener.
“Then sa second half, hindi na ako masyado nagamit,” said the shooting forward out of Santo Tomas, who played for 15 minutes.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone admitted Maliksi was a primary target of the Kings’ defense especially in the aftermath of his scoring explosion in the series opener.
“He was one of our targets because he did have a huge impact on Game 1,” said Cone, who nonetheless didn’t expect Maliksi to end up scoreless.
“Now we really have to worry about Allein coming back in Game 3,” added the coach about his former player.
It’s all up for Maliksi to take on the challenge.
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