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Allein Maliksi has made a name for himself as a reliable scorer—never gun shy and always ready to shoot.
And Maliksi has been everything the Elite had hoped for him to be when they acquired him from Star in a four-player trade a little over two weeks ago.
“Maliksi is indeed a big help on the offensive end. Only in his third game, still getting confused on our set plays but he’s a fast learner and we expect him to blend with the other players as we play more games,” Blackwater head coach Leo Isaac said after the Elite stunned the Meralco Bolts, 92-91, at the start of the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals Tuesday.
Since his arrival at Blackwater, Maliksi has been averaging 22 points per game through three outings, including a 29-point debut in a victory over GlobalPort.
Maliksi scored 15 points in the upset victory over the Bolts, delivering his team’s last four points in the final 33 seconds, none bigger than his game-winning jumper with 9.5 ticks left.
Maliksi and import Henry Walker came up big in the fourth quarter. Walker scored the Elite’s first 18 points in the period while Maliksi provided the finishing touches.
The former NBA veteran offered high praise for Maliksi, whom he also credited for his big fourth quarter production.
“”He keeps the defense honest. That fourth quarter, I was able to get a lot of one-on-one and I feel like I could score on anybody,” said Walker, who finished with 19 points in the final frame.
“In the end, it was just fitting that the new game that came in and giving us that new weapon, he put it in and it was a great shot. I felt more happy about that than any of my points,” he added.
The 29-year-old Walker marveled at Maliksi’s demeanor even in the pressure-packed situations.
“Just how calm he was, he was ready. He’s just cool and confident. He’s never out of character and he’s always under control. He’s just a scorer.”