PBA: Allein Maliksi shrugs off past shooting slump to torch Ginebra

Meralco Bolts’ Allein Maliksi in the PBA Philippine Cup game against Ginebra. -PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—Allein Maliksi redeemed himself with a hot shooting night to help Meralco frustrate Ginebra with a 91-73 clobbering Friday night in the PBA Philippine Cup.

Maliksi shot the lights out with 25 points on a waxing hot 64 percent field goal shooting clip to give the Gin Kings their first loss so far in the All-Filipino Cup.

This, after having a subpar game on Sunday that saw the Bolts bow to Northport, 90-85.

READ: PBA: All-around effort helps Meralco crush Ginebra

“It’s all about my mindset. I work hard and I prepare myself every day, every game and in practice. Eventually, there’ll be off nights and games where you play so well so I just continued to enjoy the game and play how I play,” said Maliksi.

“I just kept trying and I let my game come to me naturally.”

Meralco’s Allein Maliksi and coach Luigi Trillo after beating Ginebra convincingly in the PBA Philippine Cup. | @MeloFuertesINQ pic.twitter.com/WVkwIpSDtC

— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) March 15, 2024

In that game against Batang Pier, Maliksi struggled hard on offense finishing with just four points and three rebounds. He sank just two buckets from the field on 10 attempts.

With Maliksi’s scoring exhibition on Friday, though, Meralco bounced back to hold a 2-3 record, just enough to put them in the eighth spot.

READ: PBA: Tim Cone irked over Ginebra’s ’embarrassing’ loss to Meralco

Maliksi’s return to form didn’t surprise coach Luigi Trillo one bit. Trillo stated that Maliksi had his way of bouncing back by being “methodical” in training.

“I’m proud of Allein and I’m sure everybody in the team sees him as a professional. He has a way where he comes in before and after practice then goes on to the extra work. He’s very methodical,” said the top coach.

“He’s valuable to the team and he’s a good example to the other guys,” he added.