PBA All-Stars: Five straight dunk titles for Rey Guevarra
Players cheer on as Rey Guevarra dunks one home during the skills competition of the PBA All-Star weekend in Pangasinan. | PBA Images
MANILA, Philippines—It seems almost a formality but Rey Guevarra still had to compete to earn his fifth Slam Dunk Contest championship in the Skills Challenge of the 2019 PBA All-Star Weekend Friday at the Calasiao Sports Complex in Pangasinan.
Phoenix’ high-flyer had a perfect 100-point run across two dunks in the finals where he beat Blackwater’s Renz Palma and Columbian rookie CJ Perez.
Guevarra’s first attempt in the final round was a front windmill slam off a self alley-oop pass from the left wing that gave him a 50, tying Palma’s impressive one-hander wherein he jumped above six crouching players in the paint.
Perez, who dunked just once in the final round, scored just 42 in his lone attempt on a simple one-handed pounder off a self alley-oop pass after he missed his first attempt on a reverse dunk effectively eliminating him from the competition.
Palma’s second attempt in the final round had Beau Belga pass him the ball from the stands but all his attempts blanked as time ran out with the Elite forward settling for the minimum of 30 points.
Guevarra punctuated his night with a dunk that sided more on the theatrics side rather than the athletic one.
Beau Belga is the back-to-back champion in the Obstacle Challenge. | PBA Images
With all of the Fuel Masters on the floor, Guevarra pounded a simple one-hander off of a two-legged jump while the rest of his teammates jumped in unison to his dunk.
Guevarra was nursing a groin injury a week prior to the Slam Dunk Contest and this forced him to change his dunking style.
Peter June Simon is the new three-point champion. | PBA Images
“I usually jump off of one leg for my dunks so I had to come up with different ones wherein I will jump off two,” said Guevarra.
With his fifth title in his hands, Guevarra tied Niño Canaleta for the most championships in the exhibition.
Meanwhile, Beau Belga survived the challenge of Russel Escoto and Yousef Taha to retain his Obstacle Race title.
Star Hotshots’ Peter June Simon won the three-point title over Rain or Shine’s James Yap. /bmjo
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