Kobey with a Y

Kobey Lam was Bay Area’s man of the moment in the Dragons’ 94-86 win over Barangay Ginebra in Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the MOA Arena last Friday. He matched his conference high of 30 points, including eight straight in the fourth quarter to expand Bay Area’s lead from four to 12, and set the stage to tie the series at 2-2.

With Andrew Nicholson out of commission, coach Brian Goorjian extended his rotation to catch Ginebra off-guard and adjusted his attack points to take more twos than threes. In the Dragons’ two losses, they attempted more threes than twos (42 to 36 in Game 1, 41 to 35 in Game 3). But in their two wins, it was the reverse (30 to 40 in Game 2, 38 to 48 in Game 4). The Dragons also had better ball security in Game 4 where they committed 12 turnovers, eight less than in Game 3.

Hayden Blankley was scoreless in the first half in Game 4, scored two points in the third period and hit a crucial off-balanced triple on a pump-up at the 24-second shot clock buzzer to bring the Dragons’ lead from 10 to 13 with 3:20 to go. LA Tenorio replied with a triple of his own then Justin Brownlee sank a twinner. Blankley later closed it out with a layup. Blankley wasn’t too productive overall with seven points on 18.8 percent from the field but still registered a +6 efficiency, third on the squad behind Glen Yang (who played with no relief) and Ray-Ray Songwei.

There is talk that Nicholson may sit out Game 5 tonight and preserve himself for Game 6 on Wednesday to get a week’s rest in recovering from a nasty left ankle sprain. If the series extends to a Game 7, it will be held at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan on Friday. Myles Powell is nursing torn ligaments in his foot so Nicholson is Bay Area’s only import option. Powell would’ve been eligible to replace Nicholson under an agreement with the PBA to allow his return twice. Under the same agreement, Nicholson is allowed to return once so if he’s replaced at this point, the NBA veteran wouldn’t be allowed to come back. The policy for resident PBA teams is an original import may return once after being replaced but a replacement import may not return at all.

Lam is one of three Bay Area Asian heritage players. The others are Blankley and Warren Liang. The three hold no Chinese passports because China does not recognize dual citizenships. However, their Chinese lineage is confirmed. As a concession, the PBA allowed Bay Area to line up the three players but only two may be on the court at the same time. Resident PBA teams are limited to recruit only players with Filipino passports, except for imports. Lam and Blankley are both 22, the youngest in the PBA. Lam is Laotian-Chinese whose Chinese father is Kwang Lam and Laotian mother is Devanh Ketavong. His grandfather Si Sinh Lam is from Quang Xi, China. Lam, born in Toronto, was named after Kobe Bryant but a Y was added to match the number of letters in his father’s first name. He played a year in junior college then became the first Laotian to start in a D1 varsity with the University of Denver and ended his collegiate career averaging 3.3 points for D2 University of Charleston.

Blankley, who holds an Australian passport, traces his Chinese roots to his mother Wang Li who was born in Tianjin. His father David is English. He played three D2 seasons with West Texas A&M University, averaging 3.2 points in his first year then 4.8 and finally, 7.6. Blankley hit 41.8 percent from beyond the arc in his second season. Both Blankley and Lam are fresh out of college and playing in their first pro league.