CAN a team made up of big-time players, boosted by a do-it-all import, and led by the league’s reigning MVP hack it against a squad out to pull off an achievement never done in 42 years?
That will be known when Ginebra takes on Bay Area on Sunday, Dec. 25, in Game 1 of their best-of-7 finals duel for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The Christmas day match is set at 5 p.m., with the combatants raring to gain the head start in the race-to-4 title series of the mid-season tourney.
Dragons coach Brian Goorjian admitted his charges have their work cut out for them in their bid to become the first foreign guest team to win a title in the pro league since Nicholas Stoodley did it in 1980.
“Excited to be in the finals. Nothing but respect for Tim Cone,” Goorjian said. “They dominated the semifinals, they dominated the quarterfinals, they dominated the final stretch of the season.
“They dominated us the first time they played us. So, I’m hoping we got better,” he added.
Goorjian spoke after Bay Area outlasted erstwhile defending champion San Miguel Beer 94-92 two days ago in Game 4 of their semifinals showdown to reach the Big Dance.
The likes of reinforcement Andrew Nicholson, Hayden Blankley, Zhu Songwei, Glen Yang, and Kobey Lam will be counted upon by the Hong Kong-based Dragons to deliver.
Bay Area will field the hulking 6-foot-10 Nicholson in the finals and will no longer tap prolific guard Myles Powell, who is nursing a torn tendon in his toe, according to Goorjian.
“Myles is out injured. It’s serious. It’s a serious injury. It’s going to be months. He rolled his toe and tore a tendon. Had an MRI and there is a tear. Put in a boot, and it’s six weeks minimum and then rehab,” Goorjian said.
“There’s no chance (for him to come back for the finals). It’s a period of time. We hope we can get him right for the EASL. But he is out.”
Coach Tim Cone expects the Kings to bleed for victories in the finals unlike their 111-93 dumping of the Dragons when they first met in the eliminations last Oct. 9.
“I think that surprised us more than it surprised them — that we beat them the way we did.
I think they were on a six-game winning streak or something like that and thy changed their import on that day and they haven’t adjusted,” Cone said.
“My hat’s off to coach Goorjian because he’s been able to make those adjustments and that just goes to show how good of a coach he is.”
Ginebra will bank on import Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Christian Standhardinger, Jamie Malonzo, Stanley Pringle, and Jeremiah Gray.
Veteran Kings playmaker LA Tenorio added: “Bay Area is a different team right now. They are really playing at a high-level.”
