By REYNALD MAGALLON
Dragons really breathe fire – deadly fire.
And so the Bay Area Dragons went on to produce several firsts in making a strong impression in their 133-87 drubbing of Blackwater in the opening of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Myles Powell, one of the Dragons imports and will play the first four games for Bay Area in the conference in lieu of Andrew Nicholson, proved to be on a class of his own, dropping 41 points in just 29 minutes of play to power the Hong Kong-based crew to a 46-point beatdown of the Bossing.
The 41-point winning margin is now the 10th all-time largest in league history.
Proving their spotless record through the off-season were no fluke, the Dragons put on the work early with Powell leading the onslaught that saw Bay Area score quick 20 points in the first five minutes of the game.
Bay Area never looked back from there as Blackwater simply had no answer to a determined and talented Bay Area crew which breached the century mark after a Duncan Reid floater with still 10:14 left in the contest.
Four other players scored in twin digits for Bay Area with Glen Yang adding 22 points while Songwei Zhu and Kobey Lam added 13 points each. Hayden Blankley was the other twin-digit scorer with 11.
“We’ve struggled being here, guarding the quickness that the Filipino league possesses has been difficult for us and that’s been the focus point. I thought at the start of the game our defense was good. We stayed in front of them and we did a good job on the ball,” said Dragons head coach Brian Goorijan.
“On the defensive end we really clicked. We’re playing through Miles with the ball in his hands, I thought he made good decisions making everybody involved and he was somebody they had trouble guarding,” he added.
Ato Ular was the lone bright spot with 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Bossing while Rashawn McCarthy and Baser Amer added 11 and 10 points respectively. It also didn’t help the cause that Blackwater import Cameron Krutwig also had a forgettable debut, finishing with only 11 points although he had 12 rebounds and eight assists across the board.
Bossing newly acquired big man Troy Rosario also didn’t see action in the contest that saw Blackwater suffer the most lopsided loss a PBA team had taken against a guest team. Shades of the nightmarish 29-straight loss of Blackwater last season were also season as it absorbed its seventh straight loss after exiting the Philippine Cup with a six-game skid.
It was Blackwater’s worst defeat ever in franchise history and the second all-time most lopsided PBA game at the MOA Arena, or since the Star Hotshots demolished Kia, 128-81 in the 2017 Governors’ Cup.
