BAY Area Dragons adjusted and Barangay Ginebra didn’t.
Pure and simple, that was how Game 2 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals went down, according to coach Tim Cone after the Bay Area Dragons' 99-82 win before a crowd of 16,044 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of focus from the start, I felt. They got everything they wanted tonight, and we didn’t get anything that we wanted to do. They did a great job of disrupting,” said Cone after the game.
[READ: Bay Area Dragons bounce back with a vengeance in Game 2]
The roles, indeed, were reversed as the Kings were the ones who shot poorly in Game 2, making just 38 percent of their shots from the floor, while the Dragons hit at a 50 percent clip.
Import Andrew Nicholson erupted for 30 points and 15 rebounds, while 6-foot-9 Zhu Songwei bounced back with 25 big points including 17 in the first half when the Dragons began to dictate the tempo of the game.
In contrast, only Justin Brownlee was in sync for the Kings with 32 points (12-of-28) and 11 rebounds, while Jamie Malonzo was the other player to finish in double figures for the team with 10, but was 4-of-10 from the field.
“They made the proper adjustment (tonight). They really disrupted our offense and we couldn’t get to our spots,” said Cone. “They did a good job on Justin and made him a volume shooter. And they’re getting to the rim this time, the last game they weren’t getting to the rim.”
But it’s not time for Ginebra to panic as the series is reduced to a best-of-five.
“Like I said after Game 1, we didn’t win the series after Game 1 and we didn’t lose the series after Game 2,” Cone said. “We got time to get it turn around and get focused.”
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