MANILA, Philippines — Using terrific spring and a lot of creativity, Rey Guevarra, a veteran seeking his place in the PBA, and Fil-Am rookie Justin Melton both immortalized themselves in the annals of the All-Star Week festivities.
Guevarra and Melton shared the Slam Dunk title last Friday, coming up with electrifying tricks that left them tied all the way from the preliminaries to the finals that had a small Mall of Asia Arena crowd shouting for more.
A former dunk champion in the collegiate ranks, the 6-foot-3 Guevarra was fluidity in motion and dunked with a lot of authority, scoring the first perfect dunk of the night when he took off from the baseline with very little acceleration and flushed it home after moving the ball between his legs.
Melton then followed suit by putting two San Mig Coffee utility boys inside the no-charge zone and leaping over them before flushing it down with the left hand.
The 5-foot-9 Melton, who spells Mark Barroca at the point at San Mig, thus became the shortest player to win the Slam Dunk title in the PBA.
But the tallest player to ever see action in the event, Japeth Aguilar, wasn’t as lucky.
Aguilar, the Barangay Ginebra forward who can leap out of the gym, failed to make the final round after failing in his second attempt in the preliminaries, disappointing a number of loyal Ginebra fans and PBA purists who tagged him as the pre-event favorite.
Defending champion Chris Ellis, also of Barangay Ginebra, finished third in the preliminaries and was also left out despite putting on a respectable show.
Actually, all of the three defending champions in the side-events were dethroned, with Barroca easily defeating Jonas Villanueva in the Obstacle Challenge and Mark Macapagal reclaiming the Three-Point Shootout crown after losing it to Chris Tiu last year in Davao del Sur.
Guevarra and Melton settled for 39s in their next dunks in the prelims for 79-point totals to enter the finals.
“I just got going, knowing that the crowd was behind me,” Melton said. “It was really a treat dunking for all the fans out there.”
Ellis had a 70. Alex Nuyles of Rain or Shine (56), Calvin Abueva of Alaska (72), Japeth Aguilar of Ginebra (65) and Cliff Hodge of Meralco (56) were the other participants.
Guevarra again used the baseline in his first dunk in the finals, pumping the ball low before going for a two-handed reverse with his arms way above the rim for another perfect 40.
And just when most everyone thought that both couldn’t better that came the dunks of the night.
Using a start from halfcourt, Guevarra took off just a step inside the 15-foot line and spun in the reverse direction for 180-degrees to dunk it with the right hand for another 40.