PORTER Maberry has nothing but good words on high-flying Rey Guevarra after beating him in the slam dunk finals of the 2015 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Manila Masters.
Billed as the shortest pro dunker in the world at 5-foot-5, Maberry lost to Guevarra, 79-80, in the side event of the meet that gave the jampacked crown at the Robinsons’ Place in Manila something to cheer about.
Guevarra won the contest by a hairline after jumping over several dancers for his winning routine.
Maberry, who goes by the nickname ‘What’s Gravity?!’ and is smaller by two inches to two-time NBA slam dunk champion Nate Robinson, said he is definitely impressed with what the Meralco cager can do in dunk contests.
“Rey is really good. I was telling him, he is jumping over people already. Most people don’t jump over people because they’re scared. With him doing that, the sky is the limit. With the right training, he can be really, really good,” said Maberry.
Guevarra said he was surprised himself to win the dunk contest over his ‘idol,’ feeling that Maberry was the more impressive one in his dunks.
During his final dunk, Maberry leaped over a male person who’s on top of the shoulder of another one, and threw a reverse slam.
The effort, however, was not enough as Guevarra won by a point in the eyes of the judges which include Gilas Pilipinas national coach Tab Baldwin and assistant coach Jimmy Alapag.
“Nagulat talaga ako. Di ko alam na ako nanalo. Akala ko siya dahil siya ‘yung mataas na score,” said Guevarra, a stalwart of Manila West who had to compete in the slam dunk contest after coming off a semifinal game against Manila North.
“Galing ako sa laro tapos biglang mag-dudunk,” he added.
Guevarra said it was an honor facing Maberry in the finals having seen most of his stunt on social media.
“Idol ko ‘yun,” said Guevarra. “Fina-follow ko siya sa Instagram. Pinapanood ko ‘yung dunks niya. Mabibilib ka talaga kasi 5-5 tapos nakaka-dunk. Sabi ko nga sa kanya, turuan mo ako.”
Maberry also entertained the crowd during the preliminary round when he threw a dunk wearing an Alapag Gilas Pilipinas jersey.
He said the idea came at the last minute.
“I had the idea for the jersey. I was going to wear a Nate Robinson jersey. Then I remembered that Jimmy is from here. So I said I'll wear Jimmy's jersey. It just went crazy after that,” Maberry said.