Ellis out to defend PBA Slam Dunk crown against high-flying competition
GINEBRA’S high-flying forward Chris Ellis rattles the rim with a breakaway dunk against Rain or Shine. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines — With equally high flying competitors in this year’s PBA All-Star Slam Dunk competition, Chris Ellis won’t be settling for anything simple.
In fact, whatever above-the-rim tricks the others will pull off, Ellis will try to do something new as he defends his Slam king title on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“It depends on what the other guys are going to do. If somebody does something hard, I’m going try to do something harder. It’ll be on the spot,” Ginebra’s six-foot-five forward told INQUIRER.net.
If his in-game dunks, which always elicit oohs and aahs among the crowd, are any indication, Ellis is expected to dazzle the crowd anew armed with his jaw-dropping athleticism.
But the Fil-American admitted that his focus as of late are in-game dunks, one of the shots that are hardest to stop, as he tries to improve his game and away from flashy, contest-worthy rim-rattlers.
“I think I’m transitioning to an in game dunker better. I haven’t been practicing the flashy type dunks because I’ve been working on my game. But hopefully it was not too far transition so I could put on a show tomorrow.”
Ellis knows how stiff the competition is this year with the diminutive yet crazy athletic Justin Melton, lanky teammate Japeth Aguilar, Alex Nuyles, who registered one of the highest vertical leaps during the PBA combine, along with Calvin Abueva, Rey Guevarra and Cliff Hodge.
“I’ve seen those guys. I know they’re capable of a lot of things. Hopefully, it’s all good competitive fun. I think anybody could take it home tonight [Friday],” Ellis said.
The Slam Dunk competition, one of the highlights of the annual All-Star weekend, is scheduled at 5:30 p.m., along with other skills challenges like the Three-point shootout and the Obstacle challenge.
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