Dragons regain touch

MANILA, Philippines — Ball on its court, Bay Area did everything that was necessary and finally solved the Barangay Ginebra puzzle en route to forcing its crowd-backed rival to a 1-1 stalemate.

Powered by the bounceback-driven Andrew Nicholson and Zhu Songwei, the Dragons routed the Gin Kings, 99-82, to even up the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals series last night in front of a large audience at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Nicholson banged in a 30-point, 15-rebound, two-block sizzler while Zhu rebounded with a 25-point outing as the Dragons rediscovered their fire after their Christmas Day opener defeat, 96-81, and silenced the Ginebra faithful in the 16,044-strong crowd hoping for a 2-0 lead.

In scoring the equalizer, Brian Goorjian’s troops also broke out of the chokehold of the Gin Kings after three meetings. Before the Dec. 25 manhandling, Tim Cone’s crew handed Bay Area a 111-93 beating in their elims faceoff.

“It’s definitely a motivation. I mean, losses mount up and you pretty much (wonder) are we going to beat this team? Yeah, it did help. But it’s a series,” said Goorjian.

The Dragons and the Gin Kings now spend the next seven days prepping for the tie-breaking Game 3, which will be played on Wednesday after the brief New Year’s lull.

“All of these are positives. A lot of talk about young and learning and all of these. We’re here through that process to win this damn thing,” the Australian mentor said.

Nicholson got the touches he was essentially deprived of in Game 1 and that also freed up the likes of Zhu and Hayden Blankley (17 points) for the outside shots that went in this time.

Goorjian said having Zhu for a longer period for the match up against Justin Brownlee (32-11) after being stymied by foul the last time made a big difference.

“Brownlee is a key factor, their matchup is key. Tonight, he (Zhu) kept it under control and helped us get the lead,” Goorjian said.

After getting clobbered under the boards, 58-35, Bay Area battled Ginebra on even terms, 44-44.

“Number two difference: We competed with them on the glass.”

The Dragons, he added, are now a bit more comfortable playing in a PBA final.

“That was our first game in a final. We didn’t complain about the referees and all we tried to do was figure out how the game was going to be called and made the adjustments,” he said.

“This game was about getting easy baskets, rebounds and putbacks and putting guys in the foul line. Tonight, we defended without fouling. We made adjustments according to PBA rules on defending defense without fouling and to move forward, we got to stay on the same page,” he added.

The Dragons dealt the Gin Kings their worst loss in a PBA final since their 88-67 setback to TNT in Game 3 of the 2020 Philippine Cup championship.