With freedom to shoot, Mallari lets loose for a career night

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Don’t call Alex Mallari the Filipino Russell Westbrook anytime soon.

“Going 30-10-9 a night? No. I’m not Westbrook,” he said, knowing producing those numbers on a nightly basis is tough to achieve.

But on Friday night, Mallari made it look easy as he fired a career-best 30 points to go with 10 rebounds and nine assists in Mahindra’s 106-96 win over NLEX on Friday.

Prior to his career night, Mallari was averaging 16.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists for the Floodbuster  this 2017 PBA Philippine Cup.

Mallari said he’s just seizing the opportunity to make his mark in the league after stints in loaded teams like Petron and Star in his first four seasons in the league.

“I just want to let loose,” he said. “I was on a winning team but I didn’t get a lot of freedom. Now, I’m just trying to be aggressive and help our team in any way, try to find the mismatches. What happens happens.”

Though the Floodbuster are already out of contention in the playoff race, Mallari knows the victory will serve as a morale-booster for their buildup for the import-laden conferences.

“Anytime you get a win, even though it’s no bearing, it gives you momentum and some confidence going to the second conference. So if we can follow this one with a win and end the conference on a high note, that’s all we could ask for,” he said.

It also helps that the players are slowly beginning to find their roles in Mahindra.

“Guys are not shy to shoot anymore,” he noted. “They’re willing to let it go and if they miss, they miss. If it’s an open shot and they shoot it, that’s all we could ask for. Guys are finding their roles, getting more comfortable with their roles, and when we get a good import, we’re going to be a dangerous team.”

Falling just one assist shy of achieving a rare triple-double, Mallari is not ruling out the possibility of eventually tallying one.

“I’m going to look at the tape to look who missed a layup,” he joked.

“I didn’t even know until I was close to that until they told me with a minute left. It’s unfortunate, but we got the win and it’s all that counts. It’s OK. Maybe one of these days, I’ll get one too.”

Mahindra is set to face Mallari’s former team Star next Wednesday to wrap up its Philippine Cup campaign.