HONG KONG Bay Area has the momentum while Barangay Ginebra San Miguel—according to coach Tim Cone—“has the ball on its court” in Game 3 of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup Finals Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“We had a few days to really sink in to our adjustments. And just like coach Brian [Goorjian] said, Game 2 ball is on their court and have done their thing, now the ball is on our court so tough a task to prepare and be ready for Game 3,” said Cone Tuesday.
The Gin Kings indeed had the ball on its court in Game 1 where they bedazzled the Dragons in a 96-81 win but Game 2 was a way different battle.
After making adjustments on how a PBA Finals is played—specifically on how referees make their calls—Goorjian came prepared with a polished homework to tie the series with a 99-82 rout.
Cone admitted they didn’t see that one coming.
“Everybody was a little bit angry for not playing well and the coaching staff wasn’t happy for not preparing well [for Game 2],” Cone said. “They adjusted very well and we couldn’t handle their adjustments.”
Both sides—Justin Brownlee for Ginebra and Andrew Nicholson for Bay Area—played dominant roles in Games 1 and 2, something their coaches are unsatisfied with.
Cone want his local guys—reigning MVP Scottie Thompson, Stanley Pringle, Christian Standhardinger, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo and LA Tenorio—to step up behind Brownlee.
For Goorjian, he similarly wants his bench to contribute more and not let Nicholson do a yeoman’s job all of 48 minutes.
“We rely very much on Nicholson, and Nicholson played every minute until the game’s over,” Goorjian told BusinessMirror the other day. “We’re not playing too deep into the bench.”
Nicholson’s numbers two games into the best-of-seven series of 28.5 points and 13.5 rebounds have been weaving wonders for the Dragons, and so are Brownlee’s—30 points and 12 rebounds—for the Gin Kings.
But Goorjian believes his team is fully motivated to win the series.
“It’s definitely a motivation. I mean, losses mount and you pretty much wonder ‘are we going to beat this team?’” he said. “All of these are positives. A lot of talk about young and learning all of these. We’re here through that process to win this thing.”
Game 3 is set at 5:45 p.m.