IN the dying seconds, Andrew Nicholson, his left foot on a cast, was among the first to rise from the bench, clapping his hands.
He's proud of his teammates. And why he wouldn't be?
With him confined on the bench with an ankle injury, the Bay Area locals refused to lose, waging a fight to remember highlighted by their own fourth-quarter tear leading to a series-tying 94-84 drubbing of Barangay Ginebra in Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals Friday night at the MOA Arena.
"From that loss the last time, we decided we have to move on and play the next one. Being down 1-2 is tough. This game is important for us and we can't be in a 1-3 hole," said Kobey Lam, the sweet-shooting gunner bannering Bay Area's incredible Game 4 stand that forged a 2-2 deadlock in the race-to-four series.
Lam played like an import, coming through with a 30-point game spiked by a superb 8-of-14 clip from the arc, and drew solid backup jobs from Glen Yang and Songwei Zhu who scored 18 points apiece.
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Hayden Blankley fired blanks in the first three quarters but also delivered in the clutch, including a buzzer-beating double-pump three-pointer that gave the Dragons their biggest lead of 13 points at 89-76.
And that was the height of the Dragons' big shift from a first-half struggle that saw them trail by as many as 12.
The Dragons showed their own no-quit spirit, defying the odds and silencing majority of the crowd of more than 17,000 on a 22-15 salvo in the third then a 34-25 fourth-quarter juggernaut.
"I'm just really proud of our guys right now for coming out and competing," said Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian.
Lam led the way for the Dragons as he roared, soared and rolled against all the defenders thrown at him by coach Tim Cone.
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"We needed to come out," said Lam.
Still, the biggest question is whether Nicholson will already be ready to play come Game 5 Sunday in the same Pasay City playing venue.
the Kings pounced on the absence of Nicholson early on, taking the half at 46-38 on a 27-19 salvo in the second quarter.
But then, the Dragons made the right adjustments, getting the countermoves leading to a bounceback from their 89-82 defeat in Game 3.
Justin Brownlee put in a 23-point, 13-rebound, 11-assists triple-double but himself tapered off in the second half just like all the other Gin Kings. (SB)
