Andrew Nicholson felt satisfied with the way he performed that ultimately helped Bay Area return to its winning ways in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The former NBA cager played a big role in the Dragons’ 113-87 obliteration of San Miguel on Sunday. He finished with 39 points and 12 rebounds in a performance that also saw him tally two assists, two steals, and a block.
It was a much better outing than in his debut exactly a week ago, which saw him slow down in the second half of their 93-111 loss to Barangay Ginebra.
There, Nicholson fired 26 points in the first half in a solid display of what he can bring to the table in his first rodeo as the substitute for Myles Powell. But he could not sustain the rhythm as he only scored two in the last 24 minutes.
He did almost the same against the Beermen by scoring 25 in the game’s first two quarters. But he then proved that he can keep going, finishing with nearly 40 markers in the 37 minutes and 43 seconds he saw action.
Nicholson felt pleased with how the guest team as a whole responded to that massive beatdown at the hands of the crowd darlings.
“I think we had a great attitude after the game,” he said shortly after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “In terms of practice, we had a great week of practice. It was more competitive.
“We stuck together, that’s the most important thing. We kind of translated what we did in practice into the game. That’s what we did today. Our defense was better, the ball was moving and we just trusted each other.”
Moving forward, the 32-year-old forward vowed to ‘push through fatigue’ in an aim to help further the Dragons, who improved to 5-1 in the standings.
“This is my second game. I’m gonna continue to push through fatigue. I think I did a decent job today and just continue doing that moving forward,” he said.
