BARANGAY Ginebra and Bay Area go for 2-0 leads in their semifinal series against separate foes in the 2022-2023 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Philsports Arena on Friday.

PBA schedule today December 16
The Gin Kings go up against Magnolia at 3 p.m., and the Dragons square off against San Miguel at 5:45 p.m. in Game Two of their respective series. Ginebra and Bay Area can step closer to a finals seat with a win on Friday.

Despite the early lead in the series, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone emphasized the need to play better following their 87-84 win over Magnolia in a game that saw the Hotshots missing their import Nick Rakocevic after he was ejected in the third quarter for a flagrant foul penalty one on top of a technical foul he was slapped in the second period.

“It wasn’t pretty. In the playoffs, it won’t be pretty basketball. There’s no pogi points in the playoffs. It’s about getting it done. That’s what our guys did. We got it done,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

Cone expects Rakocevic to bounce back after his premature exit in Game One.

“We are going to see a motivated Rakocevic in Game Two. We have to brace ourselves for that,” said Cone.

Bay Area escaped with a 103-102 victory over San Miguel after a fastbreak by Kobey Lam with 7.1 seconds left in the contest, completing its comeback from 16 points down.

Dragons coach Brian Goorjian played down the series-opening victory as his team needs to be prepared for adjustments that the Beermen will make in Game Two.

“There was nothing in this. The team that makes the adjustments that gets better as the series goes on is the team that is going to win the series,” said Goorjian. “This was just one game. There’s a lot of things we didn’t do that we can do better at doing at. And that’s our focus.”