ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Zhu, Nicholson take charge as Bay Area gets back at Ginebra

Zhu, Nicholson take charge as Bay Area gets back at Ginebra

Published Dec 28, 2022 08:25 pm

Bay Area rediscovered its fire and set Ginebra ablaze with a 99-82 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-seven 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

Andrew Nicholson attacks the defense of Justin Brownlee. (Mark Balmores)

Zhu Songwei and Andrew Nicholson shrugged off the physical defense thrown at them by the Kings to lead the huge fourth quarter assault for the Dragons and reduce the series to a virtual best-of-five affair.

With the Kings threatening to author one of their signature comeback bids after trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, Zhu, Nicholson and Hayden Blankley – three players who were limited in Game 1 —connived in the huge fourth quarter which slammed the door on Ginebra.

With their lead getting chopped down to just five, 68-63, Nicholson, Zhu and Blankley joined hands in the pivotal 9-0 run that restored order for the Dragons, 77-63.

Justin Brownlee tried to keep the Kings in the game with three straight triples but Bay Area simply had enough firepower towards the end to keep Ginebra at bay.

Zhu, saddled by foul trouble in Game 1, made sure to make his presence felt in the second game, finishing with 25 points and six rebounds while Nicholson, who was limited to his conference-low last time out, also bounced back with a double-double effort of 30 points and 15 boards.

Aside from the two, Blankley also broke out of his shooting slump and contributed 17 points built on three triples while Kobey Lam added 11 and Glen Yang orchestrated the attack with eight assists on top of his five points, six rebounds and three steals.

As much as how they struggled in the opening game of the series, everything clicked and went to the Dragons’ favor in Game 2 especially during a huge second quarter run that allowed them to take control of the contest.

Up by one, Bay Area turned a slim 22-21 lead into a 41-26 advantage with Zhu and Nicholson spearheading the assault. The Dragons even stretched the lead to 17 at the break – the biggest halftime deficit Ginebra had faced in the Finals since it trailed 63-46 against Meralco in 2019.

Even with the huge lead, the Dragons couldn’t really pull away as the Kings, behind the cheers from 16,044 fans inside the Big Dome, tried to rally back into the game in the second half.

Bay Area saw its lead diminish to a pair of seven point margins in the third frame, first a 57-50 and 75-68 before an and-1 play from Japeth Aguilar to open the final frame shoved the Kings back to within five.

Brownlee was the lone bright spot for Ginebra with 32 points while Jamie Malonzo was the only other player in double-digits for the Kings with 10.

The series will take a week-long break before action resumes in Game 3 on Jan. 4.

Related Tags

Bay Area Dragons Justin Brownlee Andrew Nicholson ginebra san miguel Zhu songwei
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.