THE Hong Kong Bay Area Dragons spewed fire—lots of it—to melt the Blackwater Bossing, 133-87, in the opener of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Bay Dragons are a guest team in the import-laden conference but neither were they bullied nor shoved around in their PBA debut, flashing a fluid game on both ends to send a strong message that they’re dead serious about their participation in Asia’s first professional league.
Myles Blake Powell, a former Philadelphia 76ers point guard, waxed hot from all over and scored 41 points—almost a third of his team’s production—on 14 of 28 shooting from the field. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
“It was great…after two months of preparation, those tune-up games, we showed everything on the floor tonight,” the 6-foot-2 Powell said. “Our coaches did a great job, but it’s a team thing though.”
He had 14 points in the first quarter which the visitors dominated, 36-19. The Bay Dragons went on with the onslaught for a 64-36 halftime lead before posting a seemingly unreachable 97-65 advantage heading into the fourth period.
Glenn Robertson Yang finished with 22 points, five rebounds and seven assists while Zhu Songwei and Kobey Ketavong Lam had 13 points apiece for the Bay Dragons, who’re using their PBA stint in preparation for the East Asia Super League (EASL).
The EASL is a regional league that features champion teams from the different professional leagues in the continent—including Philippine Cup top two San Miguel Beer and TNT Tropang Giga. The EASL starts next month.
Hayden Joel Blankely finished with 11 points and 7-foot-5 Chuanxing Liu added nine points, 13 rebounds and two blocks also for the Dragons, who limited the Bossing to a 47 of 85 shooting.
The Dragons made 31 of 46 field goals and nailed 16 of 39 three-point attempts. They missed only three of 26 free throws.
The Bossings, on the other hand, went 21-of-60 from the field, 11-of-33 from beyond the arc and were a sore 12-of-29 from the free throw line.
“Our No. 1 goal is to win the EASL championship, but we have to perform here [PBA] because this league will help us in our EASL campaign,” Hong Kong Coach Brian Goorjian said.
“We would like to get into the PBA playoffs and bring the energy to EASL,” Goorjian said. “Our approach here is one game at a time and win as many games we can. I know there are tough competitions ahead of us.”
Rookie Renato Ular led Blackwater with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while import Cameron Krutwig debuted also with 13 points with 12 rebounds and eight assists. Former TNT Tropang Giga big man Troy Rosario, Blackwater’s acquisition from TNT, was in uniform but was benched by his coaches. Gab Banal, also a former Tropang Giga, was scoreless in 17 minutes.
The Bay Dragons take on the NorthPort Batang Pier on Saturday in the same venue.
Image credits: Rudy Esperas