Rough road ahead for Dragons

MANILA, Philippines — After debuting with a 46-point blowout, guest team Bay Area Dragons had to dig deep to hurdle a tight match on a buzzer-beating triple then pull through with a come-from-behind caper from 16 down to make it 3-0.

And with local rivals itching and seriously plotting to bring them down, the Dragons of Hong Kong brace for a rougher road ahead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Up next for the co-leaders is Converge (1-1), which tries to succeed where Bay Area’s early victims Blackwater (133-87), NorthPort (105-104) and Phoenix (101-91) previously failed at.

The Dragons stake their spotless record at 5:45 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Also taking the Big Dome’s floor are Meralco (0-2) and Terrafirma (0-3) in a 3 p.m. tiff pitting teams scrambling for breakthrough in the mid-season conference.

The matchup with Converge actually ushers in a tough stretch for Brian Goorjian’s Dragons, who face off with top contender Barangay Ginebra and titleholder San Miguel Beer afterwards.

“The competition so far has been tough. I think the guys understand now and are starting to know what we have to do in order to win and that’s important heading to the top teams,” said Goorjian.

Explosive 6-foot-2 import Myles Powell, the leader in scoring (36.7 points per game) and steals (3.0 per outing) this conference, looks to power the Dragons to 4-0 and solo first before giving way to the 6-foot-10 Andrew Nicholson in their next four games.

“Same approach I had the last three games. I know coach wants us to be successful. Since I’ve got here, I’ve listened to him and my game has been taking steps forward so I’ll continue to do that,” said Powell.