Ginebra guard Jamie Malonzo. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
For nearly a year, Jamie Malonzo was just along the fringes of the PBA—watching, waiting, and working on the calf he hurt back in the summer of last year.
He has since been back for Barangay Ginebra in the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs with the kind of urgency from a man grown disgustingly tired of being a mere spectator.
“These are the games we want to be playing, these are the type of games you live to play for,” the high-leaping forward told the Inquirer in a candid chat, his face lighting up after each line.
Malonzo averaged 17.6 points in the semifinals, where Ginebra disposed of the top-seeded NorthPort in five games. His scoring output was the finest among the locals among all teams in the Final Four counting TNT and Rain or Shine.
The two-way star, who was grounded for about nine months, is looking to keep things that way when the crowd darlings battle TNT in a best-of-seven duel that got going on Friday night at Mall of Asia Arena.
Malonzo acknowledged he will be coming into the championship series a marked man following a stellar personal semis run, and that he will be shouldering the burden of clamping down on Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Driving force
On top of that, he knows that his presence will be much-needed if the Gin Kings hope to get back at TNT, which has defeated them twice in their last two title showdowns.
Not that he minds.
“Not really too much pressure. But you know, of course, I want to go out there and perform at the highest level,” Malonzo said. “I think that’s what’s most important for me.
“What drives me to keep going is just the eagerness to show that I can still play at the highest level against the best competition,” he added. “And that’s the fun part of it all.”
The challenge, the 28-year-old Filipino-American said, will be from within.
Malonzo knows that playing with boundless energy can be disruptive to the team. That’s why he is cautious in this matchup, where the lights shine the brightest and the smallest misstep can cost a game.
“Obviously, ‘gigil’ helps,” he said. “[But] you got to always play controlled whenever you’re playing for a coach like coach Tim (Cone),” he said.
“He’s going to make sure you’re in the right spots, the spots you’re supposed to be, so you have to be playing the way you’re supposed to and to be playing at a certain speed that the team needs of you,” he said.
That realization, and the sting of two botched title attempts—the first he was a part of, and the second as an observer—will serve as fuel for Malonzo to do well.
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“I’ve lost to Rondae before. I still know how that feels. Losing to coach Chot (Reyes) and to that team as well,” he said.