HEIGHT versus speed.
That, in essence, will be what the North versus South centerpice game of the PBA’s Annual All Star Week will be about today when the two squads collide at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao and hopefully save the league from the beating the event is taking at the tills.
Reigning two-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer will spearhead the South, which will have a tremendous advantage in size against their counterparts from the North, who will be led by the energetic Calvin Abueva of Alaska.
Fajardo and Abueva, who entered the league at the same time four years ago, are undoubtedly the stars of this year’s spectacle.
Leo Austria of San Miguel will call the shots for the South while Yeng Guiao of Rain or Shine will handle the North squad.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. as the game pulls the curtains down on another edition of the All-Star Week that saw Rey Guevarra of Meralco and Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort seal their places in the side-events’ history books.
Guevarra, Romeo and the new Obstacle Challenge champion, Rain or Shine rookie Maverick Ahanmisi, played to a very sparse crowd as the event failed miserably compared to the attendance it generated last year in Palawan.
Guevarra won the Slam Dunk title for the third straight year, becoming just the second man to win the event at least three times.
Only KG Canaleta, who participated in the Three-point Shootout won by Romeo, has more championships with five.
The Three-Point Shootout became the more exciting contest on Friday night, with Romeo shooting 20 points in the final to turn back Canaleta and RJ Jazul of Alaska, who both scored 17 points.
The former Far Eastern ace in the UAAP and now Batang Pier’s leading local scorer became just the fifth man to win the contest at least twice, with the list counting the great Allan Caidic as one of its members.
A dance number from both teams have become a familiar pre-game routine in the past years, and for the first time, Austria and Guiao will reportedly join their respective squads this time.
Paul Lee, Jason Castro, Romeo and Stanley Pringle will man the backcourt for the North, giving Guiao a really loaded rotation.
Asi Taulava, another former MVP, joins Fajardo in manning the slot for the South, which also has Joe Devance and JR Quiñahan.