Newsome, Maliksi stake dunk, 3-point titles at PBA All-Star

BATANGAS CITY — Work does not stop for Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi during the PBA’s break as they are set to defend their respective titles as the All-Star festivities reach its second leg here in Batangas on Friday afternoon.

Newsome, a guard from the Meralco Bolts, will try to keep his Slam Dunk crown when he takes on a former titleholder in Rey Guevarra of the Phoenix Fuel Masters.

Matt Ganuelas-Rosser of San Miguel Beer, Mario Magat of Alaska, Renz Palma of Blackwater,l and Lervin Flores of GlobalPort are also joining the fray.

Maliksi, Elite’s trusty gunner and also a tested national team member, will try to hold off challengers JVee Casio of Alaska, LA Tenorio of Barangay Ginebra, Stanley Pringle of GlobalPort, Ronald Tubid of Columbian, KG Canaleta of Meralco, Larry Fonacier of NLEX, Matthew Wright of Phoenix, Paul Lee of Magnolia and Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel Beer.

Crowd darlings and former winners James Yap of Rain or Shine and Terrence Romeo of TNT are also expected to give Maliksi a run for his money.

Kicking off the Luzon stop of the mid-season revelries is a tweaked version of the Obstacle Challenge. A mix of the league’s grizzled and up-and-coming big men slug in the skirmish which was long participated by guards.

NLEX’s ageless center in Asi Taulava leads the bunch. Also seeing action in the contest are Alaska’s Sonny Thoss, Blackwater’s JP Erram, GlobalPort’s Kelly Nabong, Columbian’s Russel Escoto, Phoenix’s Justin Chua, Magnolia’s Aldrech Ramos, Rain or Shine’s Beau Belga, San Miguel Beer’s Gabby Espinas and TNT’s Yousef Taha.

The skills challenge, which comes off wraps at the Batangas City Sports Center at 4:30 p.m., will be capped by another showcase between the fan-voted Luzon All-Stars and a tweaked edition of the Gilas team, which will go by the tag Smart All-Stars.