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| Myles Powell is back! Dennis Acosta (file photo) |
MANILA—With its back against the wall now, Bay Area pulled off the plug on Andrew Nicholson and reactivated Myles Powell for Game 6 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals.
The league announced on Tuesday that Powell is returning for the guest team as it looks to deny Ginebra's coronation on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and send the series to a sudden death Game 7 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue.
According to the Dragons' agreement with the PBA, with the third tour of duty in this conference for Powell, the designated original import, Nicholson, the "replacement", could no longer be reactivated again.
Nicholson was brought back for the conference playoffs after Powell suffered a toe tendon rupture during practice.
However, Nicholson suffered an ankle injury in Game 3 of the finals against the Gin Kings, which sidelined him for Games 4 and 5.
Forced to play without a world import, Bay Area split its last two games, winning Game 4 and conceding Game 5 as Ginebra now holds a pivotal 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Coach Brian Goorjian has kept on saying that the Dragons are not keen on reactivating Powell so that he could recover faster in time for the EASL Champions Week in Japan from March 1-5, but with the injuries now piling up with Glen Yang also sitting out Game 5 and Hayden Blankley getting hurt late into the said game, they took on the risk and cleared Powell to play.
Whether Powell, who averaged 37.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks a game during his first eight games this conference, remains the explosive combo guard we have seen prior to his injury is something we will find out when Bay Area battles Ginebra anew on Wednesday night.
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