Despite being a last-minute replacement, Greg Slaughter stole the show with his rim-rattling dunks and his surprising touch from long range during the Master Gameface All-Star Challenge Year 2 match on Saturday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Although the match proved to be one-sided – a 135-110 blowout in favor of Team Chris over Team Marc – both the fans and players alike were treated to a show nonetheless with the special participation of NBA All-Star power forward Kevin Love during the side events that displayed his tenacity from long range.
The six year NBA veteran won the Shooting Stars challenge with San Beda College’s Andre Paras and Arellano’s Allen Enriquez, and helped the trio of Kevin Ferrer, Jeff Chan, and Chris Tiu win the three-point shootout over the team of Roi Sumang, Jeric Teng, and Gary David.
Love’s sweet-shooting from long distance also inspired Marc Pingris’ team’s last-minute replacement Slaughter, who eventually won the game’s Most Valuable Player plum in a losing cause, to hoist up three-of-five shots from downtown during the second quarter alone to close in the gap by halftime.
“After seeing [Kevin Love] shoot all those threes, it made me try my luck out there as a big man shooting threes. I decided to let it fly, try it out and it hit the bottom, so I kept going,” said Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s rookie center, who finished the game with 27 points and nine rebounds.
Marc Pingris was doubly impressed by the effort of last year’s first overall pick, saying that he was surprised by the big man’s form from long range behind the inspiration of the United States national team veteran.
“Hindi natin nakikita si Greg [Slaughter] na tumitira sa three points. But nainspire siya na kaya ko rin. So wala namang imposible kung itatry mo e, kung hanggang saan kaya mo sa basketball. Sobrang nakakainspire talaga. Pinapakita niya [Kevin Love] sa atin na hindi lang kailangan ang maliliit ang tumitira sa three points,” said Pingris.
Overall, team captains Tiu and Marc Pingris were happy with the effort put out by their respective squads in putting on a show – not only for the basketball fans that stayed following the PBA Governor’s Cup semifinals match between Talk ‘N Text and San Mig Super Coffee, but also for Kevin Love.
“Napasaya namin ang mga tao, and hopefully makabalik si Kevin Love next year para makabawi din ako,” Pingris added.
“More than winning [the game], my main goal was to entertain the crowd [and] to give them a good show. A lot of them came out today to see their favorite basketball stars, to see Kevin Love. What I told the guys was to play hard, don’t fool around, but more importantly have fun in playing together. It’s not often to see college guys playing alongside the best players in the country. We enjoyed it, and I’m sure the fans enjoyed it and we gave them highlight plays to remember,” Tiu said.
Here are the photos from the event courtesy of FCF’s Vyn Radovan, Ken Koo, and Martin San Diego
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MORE PHOTOS: Master Gameface All-Star Challenge gallery
