Hong Kong Eastern coach says his PBA guest team isn’t ‘Bay Area 2.0’

MANILA, Philippines — Hong Kong Eastern is expecting a “more competitive” tournament in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup, as the guest team started off triumphant in the Philippine league on Wednesday. 

The foreign team blasted the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 102-87, on Wednesday evening. 

The squad had three players left over from the Bay Area Dragons squad that finished runner-up in the PBA Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup – Kobey Lam, Glen Yang and Hayden Blankley.

Blankley was named the player of the game against Phoenix, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. 

After Hong Kong’s PBA debut, Blankley said that while there are a few similarities between Bay Area and Eastern, the competition is expected to be tougher this time around. 

“It's a very different team. As you guys know the Bay Area team was blessed with some mainland Chinese players that were all probably 6-foot-6 and above, some 7-footers. This team, not so much,” the 24-year-old gunner told reporters. 

“Whilst we still have a little bit of size advantage at some positions, it's pretty comparable to the Philippines, so now it's a lot more competitive on that end. The Filipino teams can definitely challenge us any night and not have to worry about us being just bigger or anything like that,” he added. 

Bay Area, reinforced by former NBA players Myles Powell and Andrew Nicholson, dominated in their lone PBA season, finishing on top of the eliminations with a 10-2 record. 

The squad, which had numerous players listed at 6-foot-6, including 7-foot-5 big man Liu Chuanxing, also blasted the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the quarterfinals and breezed through the San Miguel Beermen in the semifinals to punch their ticket to the Finals. 

They, then, faced Ginebra, which defeated the guest team in seven thrilling games. 

Blankley also underscored that the Bay Area squad that competed in the PBA had more experience playing internationally.

“The experience level too; the Bay Area team had a lot of CBA veterans and I guess you could say that might be considered a higher level. Our team is mainly just Hong Kong locals who are used to playing within the Hong Kong League so there's that difference,” he said. 

“It's some of their first time playing outside besides the couple the one EASL game we've played so far in Japan. Some of the guys’ first experience outside of Hong Kong, I guess, and playing different competitions so props to them for being willing to learn and ready to adjust and stuff,” he added. 

“Props to the guys though, I think everyone's ready for this kind of challenge.” 

For his part, head coach Mensur Bajramovic said that the squad is “not Bay Area 2.0” 

“I saw some comments like we are like Bay Area 2.0. We are not. We are really pure Hong Kong team with some additional power and for us it means a lot. So of course we have to adjust,” Bajramovic stressed. 

“This is our first experience to me and of course to other players. As we talked before a game that was my the biggest concern, we didn't play enough games together and in some moments, we miss timing, we miss some situations in defense and everything,” he added. 

“But I also want to congratulate my players. They were above my expectations according to these problems, above my expectations tonight and they played a good game. So I hope we will be better each game.”

On Wednesday, Cameron Clark finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for Hong Kong, to go with two steals and two blocks. Yang added 13, while Lam had eight. 

Eastern will have a quick turnaround as they will face the Converge FiberXers on Friday, November 29, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.