NO question, Andrew Nicholson must get up or the Bay Area Dragons would face a tough, tough test in the remainder of their title showdown with the Barangay Ginebra Kings.

Two games to one up, the Gin Kings are expected to push their drive forward in a bid to get to the hill in Game 4 of the PBA Commisssioner’s Cup best-of-seven finale at the MOA Arena Friday.

As it is, the pressure is on the Dragons on how to pick up the pieces of their sorry 89-82 loss in Game 3 where, in the dying seconds, they saw Nicholson writhing in pain on the floor after a bad fall of his left ankle from a rebound play.

It’s a shattering double whammy.

And they have just one day to prepare for a bounceback with Nicholson probably a game-time decision for coach Brian Goorjian.

Nicholson, the backbone of the visiting team from Hong Kong, left the MOA Arena on a wheelchair and was brought straight to the hospital for a quick checkup Wednesday night.

His status for Game 4 is still uncertainty at posting time.

But whether he’s good to play or not, the Dragons face a test of character while staring at a 1-2 deficit in their very first title series as a team.

From the New Year’s Day lull, the Dragons came out strong and took control most of the way only to sag and collapse in the face of the Gin Kings’ endgame salvo.

Ginebra team governor Alfrancis Chua proudly flashed his “Never-Say Die” shirt as they were heading to their dugout, with the Dragons left vanquished as they were limited to three points in the last 4:19 of play.

Ginebra’s Sixth Man — the crowd — came into play in their searing rally, and they’re expected to be right there as the Kings seek to sustain the fire in the next game.

“The crowd kept feeding us, feeding us. We were really hungry as we weren’t getting much early and we fed on that feel from the crowd,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone on the boost they got from their die-hards.

But with that, their 2-1 lead and the status of Nicholson, Cone is calling on his troops to stay focused.