Glen Yang believes that Bay Area as a whole has become ‘more ready for the moment’ heading into the 2022-23 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
The heady floor general feels proud of how the Dragons, especially the locals, have progressed over the course of the conference, particularly since suffering their first loss at the hands of Ginebra in the eliminations last October.
It turned out to be a preview of sorts as the guest team will be taking on the Kings in a best-of-seven affair starting on Christmas Day.
“I think earlier on, when Andrew [Nicholson] first played, we’re pretty reliant on him. He would have to drop 50, 40 every game,” Yang offered in the pre-Finals press conference, Friday at the Novotel Manila Araneta City.
“But now, every game is like, one of us [can] step up — Kobey [Lam] might have a huge night, Hayden [Blankley], Ray [Zhu Songwei], me, Liu [Chuanxing]. So, I think we’re all more ready for the moment now,” he added.
Much of the attention was on celebrated imports Myles Powell and Andrew Nicholson early on owing to their superb performances night in and night out, although the others gradually proved their worth during the tournament.
That was evident come playoff time. Hayden Blankley, for one, erupted for 47 points on 10 triples in one of the best shooting performances of the tilt to help Bay Area make quick work of Rain or Shine in the quarterfinals, 126-96.
It made the Dragons the first to reach the semis, a stage where Kobey Lam shone brighter despite the challenge from powerhouse San Miguel.
The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 18.75 points in the series, including a 26-point outing to help his side finish off the reigning champs in Game Four, 94-92.
And while those two were doing their part, usual suspects such as Zhu Songwei and 7-foot-5 center Liu Chuanxing were contributing as well.
Thus, the confidence on Yang’s part that they can give the Kings a much better competition come the highly-anticipated championship bout.
“I think the rest of us have also gotten better since then (loss to Ginebra). But, yeah, credit to them, they played a good game, they got the first punch, but I think we’ll give them a better matchup this time,” he offered,
Yang himself is coming into the Finals with an extra motivation to perform much better after the last two games of the semis saw him foul out.
“Huge,” he said, when asked how much of a learning curve that series was. “I think it was a different energy. The refs were calling it a little different, too.
“I think they locked in on some of the… I don’t wanna say, like, tricks I do, but maybe like, little, different things I do on defense, so they called it a lot tighter. But, you know, [I just have to] learn from it, move on,” he furthered.
The series opener is coming closer and Yang and the rest of Bay Area can’t wait to compete for what has been their goal since the beginning.
“We’re excited. This has been the goal since Day One. We’ve always focused game by game but we had championship at the back of our mind. Our coach [Brian Goorjian] went around the room last night and asked a lotta guys when the last time they played for a championship was, and a lot of guys couldn’t even answer because it’s been that long,” he said.
“Everyone’s ready to go, we’re ready for the moment. It should be a good series.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
