Gin Kings defend home court, tame Dragons to draw first blood in PBA Finals

Game Wednesday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

5:45 p.m. – Bay Area vs Barangay Ginebra

MANILA, Philippines – Playing like a real national team protecting home turf against a foreign power, gutsy Barangay Ginebra struck the first blow against Hong Kong's Bay Area on Christmas Day.

With a large and loud “sixth man” rallying their every move, the Gin Kings put up a relentless holiday work to tame the Dragons, 96-81, in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals opener at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Coach Tim Cone’s troopers battled for every possession, attacked without fear and defended with all they got as they won this tug-of-war for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series to the delight of 18,252 Yuletide revelers.

“It’s a special moment — people coming in with their families to come watch us, watch not just us but watch the Philippines playing. And that makes it extra special,” said Cone, whose team views itself as the last line of defense after the fall of the PBA’s best teams at the Dragons’ hands.

“We came in with the proper mindset amid lots of distraction with Noche Buena celebration with the family. We knew we had to win this game not just because it was a Christmas game but because it was Game One and it was really important to set the tone,” skipper LA Tenorio said.

Tenorio produced his conference-high 22 points and joined Justine Brownlee and Christian Standhardinger in a telling second-quarter run that allowed the Gin Kings to wrest control.

Brownlee finished with a game-high 28 markers, including 10 in the payoff period that extinguished the last resistance from the Dragons. The soon-to-be naturalized Filipino also had 13 rebounds and six assists.

Standhardinger had 16 and 10 while holding Bay Area’s prolific import Andrew Nicholson to his tournament-low 27 on 10-of-17 shooting.

“Best thing we did was limit Nicholson’s trey (3 out of six attempts). Christian did a tremendous job guarding him,” said Cone.

The Gin Kings’ defending led to the Dragons scoring their lowest tally of the competition (eight points less than their 89 in a three-point loss to Meralco), choking them to a 38.5 percent field goal (30-of-78).

“I thought we came out hard and fast and furious,” said Cone, whose charges also soundly defeated Bay Area in the battle for the rebounds, 58-35.

The scores:

Ginebra 96 – Brownlee 28, Tenorio 22, Standhardinger 16, Thompson 14, J.Aguilar 6, Pringle 5, Malonzo 3, Gray 2, Pessumal 0, R.Aguilar 0, Mariano 0

Bay Area 81 – Nicholson 27 Yang 12, Zhu 12, Lam 11, Ju 6, Song 5, Blankley 4, Liu 2, Zheng 2, Reid 0

Quarterscores: 22-25, 45-40, 72-64, 96-81