MANILA, Philippines -- Bay Area's Hayden Blankley refused to dwell on his shaky performance in Game 1 of the 2022 PBA Commissioner's Cup finals, instead making a quick turnaround for the Dragons.

The Australian cager was limited to just four points on a brutal 2-of-13 shooting clip in a 96-81 loss to Barangay Ginebra in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series on Christmas Day. But he regained his form in Game 2, making seven of his 10 shots for 17 points on top of seven rebounds. The Dragons scored a 99-82 triumph, knotting the series at one game apiece.

"That was definitely a motivator, wanting to prove that I belong in this stage. I had a bad game in my first game; I think this game I just didn't put any pressure on myself coming in," Blankley said of his bounce-back performance in Game 2.

"Maybe the first game I put too much pressure on myself, and the big crowd just made it worse. Today I think I tried to get myself going by doing the little things ... and my shots started to fall," he added.

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The entire Bay Area squad struggled in Game 1, where they made just 38% of their field goals. Aside from Blankley, Zhu Songwei (4-of-13 for 12 points) and Kobey Lam (4-of-12 for 11 points) were also misfiring.

Blankley acknowledged that the crowd played a factor in Game 1 of the series. Over 18,000 fans had packed the Mall of Asia Arena on Christmas Day, and virtually every single one of them cheered for the Gin Kings.

"I think I let it get to my head a little bit in that first game, especially when I started missing shots," Blankley said of the pressure provided by the "barangay."

In Game 2, he refused to be affected and instead learned to enjoy playing in front of the hostile crowd.

"I just came in with a different mindset. The fans are still the same. Ginebra fans, they're still a fun environment to play in," Blankley said.

"I love that environment, I love the Filipino fans. I don't care who they root for. Like, I know most of the fans root for Ginebra, but it just creates such a fun environment to play in," he also said.

It helps that Blankley still enjoyed the support of Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian even with his struggles on the offensive end in Game 1. Goorjian made it clear that as far as their offense was concerned, the team had his "full backing."

"I'm gonna coach that other side of the ball -- the rebounding, the defense," Goorjian said. "I tried, me personally, support them and say, 'Take your shots.' Blankley's a good shooter, and when he gets his feet set over the course of this series, I think he's gonna make a good percentage."

"In our last game, sixth miss, seventh miss, eighth miss, he was still saying, 'Shoot the next one,'" Blankley said of their coach. "It helps a lot 'cause confidence is a huge part of the game. It helps just knowing that the shots I'm taking are still good ones, and they'll fall eventually. And they did today."

Blankley and the Dragons will gun for a 2-1 lead on Wednesday's Game 3 at the MOA Arena.

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