Surprise in Slam Dunk tilt?

Only four brave souls will duke it out in the PBA Slam Dunk Contest, a highlight of today’s program opening the All-Star Weekend in Passi, Iloilo. Jamie Malonzo has pulled out of the competition, pointing to a painful shoulder that will hamper his assault on the rim but promised to play in the All-Star Game on Sunday. Left to vie for the Slam Dunk title are Converge’s Dave Murrell, Blackwater’s Tyrus Hill, NLEX’ Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Phoenix’ Chris Lalata.

Rey Guevarra has won five of the last six Slam Dunk championships but he’s no longer in the PBA. One of his titles was shared with Justin Melton in 2014. Before Guevarra’s ascent, KG Canaleta dominated with five crowns in eight contests. Now the competition is wide open. San Miguel Beer frontliner Rodney Brondial said his pick to win it all is Murrell because as the shortest among the contenders, he’ll try to be extra explosive in overcoming his size disadvantage. What is expected to be evident is Murrell’s leaping ability. Brondial said he’s also not discounting Hill pulling an upset. Hill’s vertical leap is out of this world and when he elevates for a dunk, it’s like touching the sky. Hill is almost eye-level with the hoop in stuffing it in.

Judges like to score high points for creativity, accuracy, impact and difficulty. Ganuelas-Rosser is a power dunker and he’ll need to be more creative than usual to upstage Murrell or Hill. Lalata is a conservative dunker. He’ll make sure the ball goes through the net before thinking of executing something spectacular.

In the NBA All-Star extravaganza this year, Philadelphia’s Mac McClung stole the Slam Dunk show by garnering three perfect scores in four attempts. The Slam Dunk contest had turned into a sad joke in the NBA the last several events but McClung singlehandedly took it to a whole new level, punctuating his performance with a 360-plus jam. Who will do a McClung in Passi?

In the three-point shootout also scheduled today, Brondial said his choice is Paul Lee. They were teammates at Magnolia and Brondial vouched for Lee’s work ethic. Brondial said Lee makes it a point to work on his three-pointer, picking his spots, timing his release and perfecting his mechanics. Participating in the shootout are Lee, Jeremiah Gray (replacing LA Tenorio), Baser Amer, Jerrick Balanza, Aaron Black, Kevin Alas, Arvin Tolentino, Tyler Tio, Gian Mamuyac, Marcio Lassiter, Juami Tiongson and RR Pogoy.

Other events in today’s bill are the Obstacle Challenge, Shooting Stars, a 3x3 game featuring local players and the Greats against the Stalwarts pitting rookies, sophomores and juniors. For the RSJ contest, the PBA will count three points for every dunk and four points for a shot converted beyond the arc 27 feet from the middle of the basket. Another innovation is the elimination of the player’s timeout like in FIBA. Additionally, there will no longer be a 30-second timeout, also like in FIBA. A team will be allowed one timeout per quarter and three in the fourth quarter. In the last two minutes, a team is given only two timeouts even if there are still three left.