Bay Area looks to tighten its grip of the early lead in the standings when it squares off against Phoenix while Aldin Ayo aims to keep his record unblemished when Converge takes on Magnolia in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, Oct. 1.
The Dragons, boasting a perfect 2-0 record so far with huge wins against Blackwater and NorthPort, have been on a tear in the PBA and plan to keep it that way against the Fuel Masters in their 4:30 p.m. encounter.
Quickly following suit is the clash between FiberXers and the Hotshots as Ayo tests his coaching wits against a seasoned coach in Chito Victolero in the second game at 6:45 p.m.
While the Dragons sits atop the standings this early in the conference, Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian was in no illusion that they can just lord over the rest of competition especially after being pushed by NorthPort in the last game where they only managed to pull through on a last-gasp three-pointer from Myles Powell at the buzzer.
The veteran internationalists also expect teams to play physical and try to get under the skin of his players – a ploy which the Batang Pier utilized and worked wonders in the Bay Area’s 105-104 escape last time out.
“It's us that have to learn. It's a different game here, it's called different and we're learning and sometime on both side of it there's frustration, there's a lot of emotion to kick our ass and there's a lot of emotion on our side to not back off so in the pre-season games there were some emotions and tonight, again it's the lesson that we're learning that we have to grow,” said Goorjian.
The Fuel Masters for their part certainly has the tools to pull off a shocker against the PBA guest team but players like Javee Mocon, Tyler Tio and RJ Jazul and import Kaleb Wesserhave to be on the same page if they hope to finally barge into the win column after three games.
Meanwhile in the second game, Ayo will finally get a taste of how it feels playing against a champion coach when he faces off with Victolero after his supposed baptism of fire against Ginebra’s Tim Cone was delayed by typhoon “Karding.”
Ayo had a rousing start to his PBA coaching career when the FiberXers defeated the Terrafirma Dyip, 124-110, led by import Quincy Miller who displayed his NBA pedigree in his first game with 38 points and 16 rebounds.
Not to be left out however is the Hotshots reinforcement Nick Rakocevic who turned heads in his PBA debut with a monster game of 45 points and 25 rebounds to tow Magnolia past Terrafirma, 100-92.
Also posing challenges in Ayo’s hopes of keeping his record perfect is the dreaded backcourt of the Hotshots of Paul Lee, Mark Barroca and Jio Jalalon.