Bay Area dismantles Ginebra, levels title series

Bay Area held off Ginebra’s comeback attempts in the second half as the Dragons hacked out a 99-82 victory in Game 2 to level the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals at 1-1 on Wednesday, December 28 at the packed Araneta Coliseum.

The Gin Kings staged a second-half run after trailing in double figures most of the way, but couldn’t get any closer than 5 points, 68-63, in the final quarter. 

Andrew Nicholson posted a double-double of 30 points and 15 rebounds, while Zhu Songwei collected 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists to lead the Dragons.

Justin Brownlee paced Ginebra with 32 points and 11 boards.

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The first blood has been drawn.

Barangay Ginebra looks to build on its resounding Game 1 win as it shoots for a 2-0 lead against Bay Area in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, December 28.

Defense will make or break teams in Game 2 after the Gin Kings limited Andrew Nicholson and the Dragons to their conference-lows in scoring in a 96-81 win in the opener of the best-of-seven clash.

Prior to the finals, Bay Area had averaged a league-leading 110.4 points and had never scored lower than 89 points in a game, even breaching the 120-point plateau in five matches.

Meanwhile, Nicholson scored at least 30 points over his last eight games, a stellar stretch that came after recording his previous conference-low of 27 points during his PBA debut, which also ended in a loss to Ginebra.

“We got to play better than we did. It is a series and the ball comes over to our court,” said Dragons head coach Brian Goorjian.

“They dominated us. They dominated us in the [elimination round], so the adjustment comes to us,” Goorjian added. “We got pretty manhandled so the ball is on our court to make some adjustments.”

While Goorjian tries to get better looks for Nicholson and the rest of Bay Area on the offensive end, he is also burdened with the task of containing Gin Kings import Justin Brownlee and LA Tenorio.

Tenorio ran roughshod over the Dragons’ defense in Game 1 on the way to a conference-high 22 points before Brownlee took over in the fourth quarter, finishing with a game-high 28 points on top of 13 rebounds and 6 assists.

Christian Standhardinger also delivered with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals as he assumed double duty by making life hard for Nicholson.

“We got to get things done. They’re deep, they’re athletic, they’re long,” said Goorjian.

Game time is 5:45 pm.

– Rappler.com