PBA Preview: Bay Area Dragons vs. Meralco Bolts Predictions & Preview  — November 4, 2022

The Bay Area Dragons have another opportunity to add to their growing list of victims in the PBA. Up next for the Dragons is a date with the struggling Meralco Bolts, who will be parading a new import whom they hope can help them score a huge upset victory this Friday.

Catch this game live on Friday,  November 4 at 3:00 pm, Manila time.

Bay Area Dragons (6-1)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Glen Yang
  • SG: Kobey Lam
  • SF: Songwei Zhu
  • PF: Hayden Blankley
  • C:  Andrew Nicholson

Bay Area is still a one-loss team, as the Dragons have followed up their defeat at the hands of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel with a 113-87 win over the Junemar Fajardo-less San Miguel Beermen and a 130-76 decimation of the Terrafirma Dyip. Bay Area showed no mercy to the Dyip, though, it’s really not that surprising to see Terrafirma fold like that. It’s not built to win in the PBA. 

Either way, Bay Area is making it clear again why they own the PBA as visitors. They are No. 1 in the conference with 111.6 points per game. The win over Terrafirma might have skewed some of Bay Area numbers, but it still is worth mentioning the Dragons are leading the PBA in both offensive rating (115.4) and defensive rating (96.9).

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Meralco Bolts (1-5)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Anjo Caram
  • SG: Aaron Black
  • SF: Allein Maliksi
  • PF: Cliff Hodge
  • C: KJ McDaniels

The Bolts are bringing in a new import in the form of KJ McDaniels. McDaniels will make his debut for Meralco this Friday, though, he’s not really new to the PBA. The 29-year-old McDaniels has suited up before for Meralco’s sister teams TNT Tropang Giga and NLEX. 

Perhaps an import like McDaniels is going to be the answer for the careening Bolts, who have lost all their last three games. The last time they were on the floor, Meralco got smacked by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in a 113-96 loss. Beating Bay Area is a tall order for the Bolts, especially given their current form, but they can still punch above their weight and catch the Dragons by surprise. 

PREDICTION:

Spread: Bay Area (-11.0) covers the spread.

Over/Under: The total (203.5) hits the Over.