Blankley admits JB toughest to defend

MANILA, Philippines — It was Hayden Blankley who blanketed Justin Brownlee and disallowed him from receiving a pass with five seconds left to seal Bay Area’s 87-84 win over Barangay Ginebra in Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday. The outcome set up Game 7 for all the marbles at the Philippine Arena tomorrow.

“Brownlee’s by far the hardest player I’ve ever had to guard, other than Andrew (Nicholson) and Myles (Powell) at practice,” said Blankley, the PBA’s youngest player at 22 this conference. “Each game, I’m embracing the challenge more and more, trying to make it as hard for him to operate as possible.” Dragons coach Brian Goorjian starts Zhu Songwei as Brownlee’s primary defender then switches to Blankley.

In the elims, Blankley averaged 9.3 points and 25.6 minutes but in the Finals, he’s norming 15 points and 39.3 minutes, indicating a bigger role in the playoffs. Blankley hit a career-high 47 points, including 10-of-13 triples, in Bay Area’s 126-96 win over Rain or Shine in the quarters. He’s one of three Asian heritage players in the Dragons roster. His father David is from Leicester, England and his mother Wang Li was born in Tianjin, China. His parents were married in Australia 25 years ago.

“I’m an only child so my parents and I are very tight-knit,” said the 6-6 sharpshooter. “They’ve been following every game with the help of YouTube and other streams. They keep messaging me after each of our closer games against Ginebra and saying things like ‘That gave us a heart attack’ so I guess you could say they’re enjoying the experience. They’ve never watched me play in games with so much at stake.”

Blankley played in three D2 seasons for West Texas A&M University, averaging 3.2 points in his first year, 4.8 in his second and 7.6 in his third. Then, he was recruited to join the Dragons. “In college, I was never given the opportunity to showcase what I could do but coach (Brian) Goorjian and coach (Bill) Tomlinson trusted me enough to do so,” said Blankley. “I worked super hard over the break before coming here and the work didn’t stop there. I would constantly put up extra reps and get extra work in after our practices all year.”

Blankley said playing before an expected crowd of over 50,000 will be “a little nerve-wracking in the beginning but I think all the guys will step up to the challenge and embrace the atmosphere the fans will build for the game – it’s something basketball players dream of.” The Dragons will take a trip to Bulacan today and practice at the Philippine Arena for the first time.