Duncan Reid and Liu Chuanxing deservingly drew plaudits from head coach Brian Goorjian for their efforts in holding the fort for a depleted Bay Area frontcourt in Game Four of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Friday night.
The two made Andrew Nicholson’s absence bearable with their contributions on both ends, taking turns during the Dragons’ second-half surge that eventually led to the 94-86 victory to avoid going down 3-1 against Barangay Ginebra.
Both bigs actually finished with identical numbers of eight points and eight rebounds, with Reid scoring six in the third quarter to help out in kick-starting the guest team’s uprising after trailing by 12 points during the period prior.
The Hong Kong-born cager played a total of 30 minutes and 33 seconds and Goorjian sang praises for the readiness his forward showed.
Reid hasn’t logged in 30 minutes since playing for a little over 31 in their 140-108 rout of TNT in their final elimination round game last November 30.
The 33-year-old veteran had only played for less than 10 minutes since the beginning of the playoffs, until the heavy usage on Friday night.
(C) PBA Images
“With Duncan, when I played Myles [Powell], he was playing around 30 minutes a game, and Liu played backup to Nic, then virtually, Duncan was on the ice,” acknowledged the veteran mentor after the match at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“For him to do what he did to stay ready… I kept saying, you guys all, this is a seven-game series, the playoffs are a different thing, they come day after day, you got to remain ready,” Goorjian added.
“I do believe in him and he was a key piece tonight. We played through their pressure with him on catches, and played off him.”
The 7-foot-5 Liu, on the other hand, scored six of his points in the final period, helping out in keeping the Kings at bay when Zhu Songwei gave the Dragons the lead for good, 65-61, barely two minutes into the said quarter.
Soon after, the Dragons pulled away to a 13-point lead behind Zhu and the streaky Kobey Lam approaching the last three minutes of the match.
Goorjian was glad to have maximized the towering center, who also tallied a steal in the 17 minutes he played, to their advantage this time around.
“I just thought Liu did enough defensively to get by and he was a real presence on the glass just with his sheer size,” he said.
“We did get an advantage out of him tonight, which we didn’t against San Miguel.”
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
