MIKE Malonzo hardly made an impact on offense, but what he did on the other end spelled the biggest difference in Rain or Shine’s come-from-behind 124-120 win over Converge in Game One of their PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup quarterfinal series on Tuesday night.
After seeing Cameron Clark toy with the Elasto Painters defense in the first half where he dropped 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, coach Yeng Guiao put Malonzo on the FiberXers import after the intermission.
Malonzo didn’t disappoint, taking turns with Jhonard Clarito to put the clamps on Clark, who was held to 10 points on seven attempts in the second half to enable the E-Painters to overhaul a 21-point deficit.
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“Nag-experiment kami ng match-up. Medyo umubra,” Guiao said. “It’s just the playoff toughness of the guys. It’s the buwis-buhay attitude namin.”
Malonzo typified that. Contributing six points on offense, the athletic 6-foot-3 wingman made a bigger mark on defense that you can’t see on the boxscore.
“Yun yung dirty work na sinasabi natin na hindi mo mapapansin minsan,” Guiao said. “Hindi naman scorer talaga si Mike, pero tumulong siya sa depensa, sila ni Jhonard.”
Malonzo, who just turned 27 on October 23, played down his heroics, deflecting credit to veteran teammate Clarito.
“Tinuloy ko lang yung ginawa ni kuya Jhonard. Kung ano yung ginagawa niya, ginaya ko lang din. Successful naman kahit papano.”
“Hindi naman nautakan. Hard work lang, yung puhunan namin. Kaya salamat sa Diyos, nag-work naman,” he added.
But Malonzo knows they continue to have their work cut out for them versus the prolific Converge reinforcement in the next game in the best-of-five series.
“Kailangan kasi kay Cameron Clark, you need to put pressure on him. You cannot foul him. He’s really good shooting off contact. Kahit may contact, kaya niyang i-convert eh, so he will still be a problem in the next games,” Guiao said.
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