Philippine Patriots: “It’s not what the Slingers did right, it’s about us.”
By Jan Lin/Red Hoops. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Hoops.
Philippine Patriots’ American import Brandon Powell (Patriots, #1) topped the score sheet for the Patriots with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, but was unable to carry his team through to victory as the Patriots crashed 69-75 to the Singapore Slingers. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Philippine Patriots had only harsh words for themselves about their defeat against Singapore Slingers last week and will hope to mend their bruised egos in their debut home game against Thailand Tigers this weekend, while the Slingers will face their first road test in Brunei.
The Patriots were dubbed the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) title favourites after a 76-69 road victory against Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma in the season opener, but back-to-back road wins eluded them after they fell 69-75 to the gritty Slingers.
Despite trailing for most part of the game last weekend, the Patriots are far from willing to relinquish their ABL favourites title to the Slingers.
“Actually it’s not what the Slingers did right, it’s more about us,” insisted the Patriots’ assistant coach, Ryan Dy, who was visibly very disappointed after the loss. “It was just a lousy game for us, we executed badly. Everything was not well done, both defense and offense. We wanted to catch up right away, we had no patience.”
When asked if the Slingers had caught them off-guard, the Filipino coach finally conceded. Ryan Dy said: “We were caught by the Slingers’ intensity, they really wanted to win. While the energy level of our team was down as compared to the game against Satria Muda.”
Having traveled to Singapore without head coach, Louie Alas, the team of assistant coaches revealed that they had to keep reminding their players to play their “brand of basketball” last week, and they will need to recover their level of energy to ward-off the crouching Thailand Tigers.
The Slingers, on the other hand, will be adamant to stay on top of the table as they travel to their maiden away game in Brunei. A win will bear solid proof that the Slingers’ consecutive home victories was not aided by the Patriots’ failure to show up in Singapore last weekend.
“I believe that we won the game,” asserted Slingers head coach, Frank Arsego. “At the end of the day, (visiting) teams need to realise that this is our fortress. They are not going to come in and have the Slingers give them the game. When we go to Manila, we will play as hard.”
The Slingers will be meeting the Patriots again in their second away game on 7 November, so winning their first road game against the Brunei Barracudas this weekend is essential to prove that they have what it takes to win home and away, and be the first team to do so.
The Barracudas shocked their home crowd when they were edged out 76-73 by the KL Dragons just four days after a crushing 94-76 victory over the Dragons in Malaysia. Struggling fitness was the cause of the Barracudas’ first home defeat.
While this is certainly good news for the Slingers, the Singapore side is equally aware of the impending challenges being on the road for the first time.
“Look at the comforts that we have here,” Arsego said of the challenges the team will face this weekend. “We have our own locker room, we have our own trainers and we are able to established our own routine and time. We have the comforts of our own home and friends.”
Indeed, even the Slingers’ American imports had their gorgeous significant others supporting them in the stands last week. Michael LeBlanc’s wife Dora has been living with him in Singapore for three weeks, while Kyle Jeffers’ girlfriend also flew in from Germany last week for the game.
“When we go on the road, its just us. Maybe a few fans there and that’s wonderful, but its just us against them,” Arsego added. Though against the Patriots last weekend, the Filipino crowd made their presence felt with rounds of surround-sound boos throughout the game.
Arsego continued: “Then we have things like sleeping in a different bed, eating different food, the flight, the time and we won’t have any chance to practice because we’re getting in late.” The Slingers will get into Brunei at around 8pm and are scheduled to play just 24 hours later.
“So all these things can unsettle the routine,” Arsego stressed, “so what we are going to learn on this first trip is what will be our routine on the road? The players like to have routine. Once we established a routine, we can feel comfortable whenever we go away to play.”
Echoing the head coach’s sentiments is Slingers’ co-captain Kyle Jeffers, who said: “I have no idea how things are going to turn out for the team, I will find out what my responsibilities are as a co-captain when we get there, but I do love traveling so I’m really looking forward.”
Tickets for the Brunei Barracudas-Singapore Slingers ABL match this Saturday, 8pm, at the Brunei Indoor Stadium in Berakas are available at all EGM outlets and the Indoor Stadium three hours before tip-off.
The Satria Muda-KL Dragons ABL match will tip-off at 2pm this Sunday at the BritAma Arena Kelapa Gading Sport Mall. Call 021-93582408/021-6338139 or visit Kelapa Gading Sport Mall’s ticket office for the tickets.
The Philippine Patriots will host the Thailand Tigers in their first home game this Sunday, 4pm, at the Ynares Sports Arena located in Pasig City, Philippines. Ticketing details for the match are yet to be released.
Slingers’ ASEAN import Marcus Ng (Slingers, #21) was quite literally stretched in defending the Patriots last weekend. The Australian-Chinese managed 13 points for the Slingers. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Former San Miguel Beermen point guard, Froilan Baguion (Patriots, #27), could only contribute 6 points for the visitors … (Photo 3 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
… while the Slingers’ backup point guard Wong Wei Long was on-court for about half as long as Baguion but managed 7 points. (Photo 4 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
A tired Michael Wong takes a breather on the bench. Having to juggle pro-basketball and teaching must be exhausting for the 30-year-old Hwa Chong Institution teacher. The away games will add on to the Slingers co-captain’s burden, no doubt. (Photo 5 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
The luxury of playing at home is having the support from the home crowd, though the Filipino crowd made their presence felt with rounds of surround-sound boos throughout the game. (Photo 6 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Local favourite Hong Wei Jian poses with fans after the game. Will the Slingers get such positive reception in their first away game in Brunei this Saturday? (Photo 7 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
I love the way Philippines always give excuse for their defeats. Haha…when they lose, they say “it’s about us. If we play better, we could win” Slingers beat them. Period. Patriots were the lousier team. Let’s stop looking at the Slingers’ weaknesses. Singapore is the best team in the ABL.
I don’t think the Slingers were happy with that game either. It was too sloppy and although we defended well, there’s still much to improve. They didn’t play their best, but the Slingers didn’t either.
Let’s just say it’s only game 2 out of 15, not to mention there is going to be playoffs as well. Like I told my friend when we were at the game on Sunday, the teams playing in front of us then could well be the 2 finalists this season.
The Patriots expects themselves to improve, but the same applies to us. Slingers could also be better, despite winning.
Hey,Slingerrocks,if you had seen a philppines play at their best you will not say Slingers is the best in the ABL.And what is given i don’t think it’s a excuse.Just the boring way Slinger is playing.Just comparing it with how the Philipines ,the ball movement is way better.
Their is a thing call jet lagg for god-sake?never tried before?
When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock will be out of synchronisation with the destination time, as it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms to which it has grown accustomed: the body’s natural pattern is upset, as the rhythms that dictate times for eating, sleeping, hormone regulation and body temperature variations no longer correspond to the environment nor to each other in some cases. To the degree that the body cannot immediately realign these rhythms, it is jet lagged.IT MAKES PEOPLE TIRED OUT AND WILL NOT EVEN FOR 2 – 3 DAYS.The speed at which the body adjusts to the new schedule depends on the individual; some people may require several days to adjust to a new time zone, while others experience little disruption. Crossing one or two time zones does not typically cause jet lag.
That is a simple logic.Even though i am a Singaporean,i had to say this,that even though Slingers did won this game but,so what?What’s the big deal of winning this game if in the end Slingers gets knock out?
Both teams played lousily in the second half. Most teams will always look at what they did wrong. Just like what slingers did when they lost to the PBA teams during pre season. It’s not making excuses. Of course you think that slingers is the best team. Too early to tell though imo.
@…
Flying from Philippine to Singapore result jet-lag. How many time zone is there between us and them (or is there any)?
I think I’m more along Miko’s line, which is the league is still in it’s early days. On country strength, Philippines did be the best in this region by miles, but this is not their best team. On level of preparation, the Slingers would be the best, which will give them some advantage, especially in the early season.
Singapore and Philippines have the SAME TIME ZONE, how do you go across 2 time zones when its exactly the same? I also agree with Miko’s explanation that both teams played badly but the Slingers prevailed because the defensive mentality is slowly being instilled into them. Both teams will still improve, but that’s not a valid argument, Slingers were the better team that night, the rest of the season, we can only wait and see. ~
You don’t have to agree with me. I’m a big supporter of Slingers, so I will defend the Slingers’ pride in anyway. But I’m sure the Slingers will still do well in away games cos they are a solid team. They still have a lot of room to improve…let’s just see how the FLYBOY strikes in the next few games.
slingerrocks is right, commercially, singapore is the best team in abl, they have the best imports that they could get, Vergara of the philippines, KJ & Leblanc from US and Marcus of australia.. Philippines on the other hand is the best team in SEA and one of the best performing ball clubs in asia. We would like to see your singapore team plays in sea games or perhaps FIBA asia or the jones cup.
your flyboy can’t really fly with an opponent in front of him.. he;s more like an ostrich to me as of the moment. Give him a lil bit more time playing with the other abl teams and he might grow a few feathers.
i just hope slingerrocks devotion to his slingers basketball team extends even to their singapore basketball team that they send to represent them in the SEA games. Which is i think is the most noble thing that you could do and to prove your undying support to the game that you love and to your national ball club.
I don’t know why people keep having to talk about the Filipino national team being better than the Singapore national team.
Everyone knows the Filipinos are better because they play more ball. The Singapore national team isn’t strong enough because their players don’t play regular, competitive ball like the Filipinos do.
The ABL is about pro clubs with majority of local players and nobody is confusing them with national teams.
No need to question people’s allegiance to their national teams. Everyone naturally supports their national teams when given the chance to see them play.
In Singapore, most people don’t get to see their national team play. The Phils do because they get good coverage.
Singapore’s national team doesn’t play in enough tournaments of any significance.
The Basketball Association of Singapore doesn’t even send their team to the SEA Games.
You cannot improve if you don’t play.
Also, you cannot support what you do not see.
I totally agree with the pinoy fans on this and completely disagree with slingerrocks. To me, the slingers are NOT the strongest team on paper and they do NOT have the strongest imports either. Both their wins so far have been very shaky, am not sure how anyone can argue that they were convincing victories. Anyone who watched the games can see how the slingers absolutely implode under a full court press and against a zone defence – some of the turnovers they commit are absolutely lame and amateurish, they really have a long way to go before they can be considered favourites.
The one advantage the slingers DO have over the other teams is their absolute agression and intensity. In my opinion thats the main reason for them winning. Even when I saw the imports match up against each other I thought Lonnie Jones had way more raw skill against Jeffers, some of those post moves were absolutely fantastic, but Jeffers determination and intensity was just too high for them to match up against.
So, yes, to me its obvious that currently the slingers are playing much better than expected, while the other teams are not yet playing up to their potential. The much-weaker Slingers roster will need to maintain their intensity and determination throughout the season in order to outplay the other stronger teams – and victory will be all the more sweeter if it can be accomplished with a weaker team.
The reason why they’re not sending the Singapore Basketball team to SEA Games is because they know that the team is not that really strong enough to compete with the best team like Philippines. They’re just depending on their imports.
You cannot improve sitting at home.
Saying the Slingers are depending on imports is stating the obvious. Tell us something we don’t know.
Nobody ever said the Slingers were the national team.
But the 7 Singaporeans on a roster of 12 are getting the best type of training they won’t get with the national team – real competitive games in a league that matters. Invitational friendly tournaments now and then don’t count.
Going to SEA Games counts.
And coming in last is still better than not going in at all.
There is more pride than not even going.
It’s called “DNF – Did Not Finish”.
DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!! That’s what the Slingers are about. K.J is a defensive player (1block 1 steal in college yo). Marcus, Desmond and Wei Long are all defensive players. Shooters are going to have a hard time finding their shots with them around. Those guys are going to chase down every possession and lock down every player they guard. DEFENSIVE INTENSITY YO!!!!! That’s not on the stats sheet, but that’s why the Slingers won!
Did anyone tell the Patriots that they were 3 for 17 in the 3rd quarter when K.J, Al and Marcus were on the bench and 4 locals played for 6 mins? The lead was stretched from 9 to 12 points without imports.
The thing about us Singaporeans is that we don’t like to flaunt/ hao lian our strengths and talk about how we can improve.
i love playing basketball with the singapore locals here specialy the teenagers who are begining to show interests in the game, i can see their potentials and they are fast learners. i also hate those players whether locals or foreigners particularly filipinos who brag about their skills e.g. filipinos are good offensively and on one-on-one move, cross over dribbles and all that, or the singaporeans who are good in defence and their competitive level is not really far behind from others because of this and that, its really way beyond what the game of basketball should be. the love for the game is more expressed on harmony, playing side by side, learning together even though we exhort on different teams. Not throwing taunts with each other thingking yours is superior to the other, this abl is intended to promote healthy competition. if the singapore slingers team could promote more the contribution of the different nationality playing on the team to every slingers win, including your own local players could get the filipinos, and the other nationals here in your country to support the slingers team, rather than spending more time discussing an issue to the flaws of opposing ball clubs, or the comments that they gave, reasons why they loose to your team.. your team did a good job thats all.
Slingerrocks is more of a dotty critic than a fan, and i dont even know if he knows how to play the game of basketball. I doubt.
wow, slingerrocks has the most simplistic view of the game ever – thats the difference between a blind fan and a proper observer of the game. Do you know in the fourth quarter the slingers were outscored 27-20 when the patriots played a full court press and stuck to a zone in the half court? I mean did you even watch the last few minutes of the game? The slingers couldn’t even get the ball inbounded. Look at the disparity in rebounding – the slingers time and again gave up offensive boards to the patriots. Take a look at the total fielg goals attempted – its 74 to 60. The offensive rebounds are at 16 to 7. Time and time again the patriots got second chances because the slingers were unable to clean the boards. The slingers shot 50% at the free throw line!!!! Has that ever happened before in a pro-league?? Did you even see the last 5 minutes of the game when the lead was cut to 4 from 10 in a matter of minutes because noone could even keep control of the ball? And if you think that the singaporean locals without the imports can match up to the other teams at full strength then I can no longer take anything you say seriously. The singaporean locals scored less than a quarter of the total points and committed almost half of the total turnovers. Some of the shot selection and decision making from wei long was horrific. When KJ got into foul trouble and steven khoo came on he couldn’t even inbound the ball. Pathman gives up offensive rebounds so easily, he doesn’t show any intensity on defense. There is noone on the slingers local squad who can make any sort of move in the post or even defend against a solid post player. I have no idea why you say stupid things like the slingers don’t need to talk about how to improve – they NEED to improve a lot and keep working hard to solve all the problems I just mentioned!!
so moh noticed it as well, have u seen the faces of the slinger bench players when they are about to inbound the ball in a full court press?.. it seems like they want to pass the ball to the crowd or to the referees because their knees were shaking. well its one of the department that the slingers need to improve on.
il say it again, slingers team is the best team at the moment on this tourney.
or why not pass the ball to slingerrocks if u may..what would he do then? he will just say “oh i can pass this ball to any guy on the court, its just that i dont want to flaunt it!”..the whisltle blowed! a 5 seconds inbound turnover was called..or it was just 3 seconds or 4? oh geez..
@ moh,
Just if you are thinking i know nothing about basketball, I played for my university team and I’ve even coached a team before. So why are you taking it so personally by calling me a blind fan or that I don’t know how to play basketball? Did I attack you personally in any way?
apparently you just can’t eat what I say about the third quarter. Fancy a losing team trying to claim that they are better than the team who won right now. Show it with actions, otherwise, I’ll ignore all the crap you said that the Slingers, especially the locals are lousy. If they are that lousy, the Patriots are lousier, cos they even lost to such a ‘lousy’ team as you would put it.
Look who is blind! The patriots lost despite the Slingers not being able to inbound in the 4th quarter!
@nolah: ‘i dont even know if he knows how to play the game of basketball. I doubt.’ Your comments are more constructive, but i’ll appreciate that you don’t make it personal.
this website is better than the slingers home page. the moderators here are more open minded.
@slingerrocks: indeed my comments are more constructive and not biased, i really do think this slingers team is better than the rest and because i do support vergara most of all. they just have to watch out because, like you say, you are a coach (lol), you know that the other teams are starting to see how they could play against their opponents after their few duels. the slingers need to improve on their ball movement particularly on an inbound play and bringing the ball the up courtand set up their plays. they are at their best when it comes to half court plays with vergara and KJ and Leblanc. not really good on fast breaks because only Vergara and Marcus can do the job. Pathman is consitently knocking down jumpers though, he’s the best performing singaporean local for me so far.
just dont be too delusional. all teams have their flaws.
To be fair to the official websites like the Slingers, they can’t afford to let the discussion go free. It’s their official site after all.
Having said that, there is always a line. Where that line is depends on readers.
So please discuss as passionately as you like but don’t make personal remarks. It’s trigger a tit-for-tat reaction and there will never be an end to it.
If you all like bball so much, then go watch the game together and have a good time. After that, have dinner and a drink. Can argue some more. : )
Yea…all teams have their flaws, even NBA teams have their flaws. They just gotta keep on seeking to improve. I don’t deny the flaws of the Slingers, but I do like to give them credit for their strengths too, which is often not surfaced. If you have been around 3 years ago when the Slingers just began, you would have notice how much Pathman has improved. His improvement is tremendous. Now he’s becoming quite a good mid-range catch-up shoot player. Wei Long also have done well and improved on his ball control and shooting tremendously under the tutelege of Al Vergara. Desmond’s D shows that he has a lot of heart and determination. Let all of these not be hidden, just because of their flaws. Of course, Steven Khoo is still in NS, so he is not totally with the team yet. After he ORDs, we may get to see him improve.
@ slingerrocks – well, all your comments point to you being a blind fan, so i called you on it, if you take it personally, then so be it. You claim to have good basketball knowledge but you haven’t shown any signs of it so far, so I absolutely stand by my statement and say again – yes, you are a blind fan!! If you feel like any of my statements are incorrect or unsubstantiated then please go ahead and call me out on it. I have no problems accepting a mistake I have made and aplogizing for it.
After any loss, every team looks inwards to see how they can improve, so I see nothing wrong with what the patriots coach said – it is the most rational way to respond after a loss. I am a slinger supporter and thats exactly how I would want the slingers to also react after a loss. But for some reason you feel that there is something crazy about using that approach.
You have conveniently ignored all the signs that I explicitly mentioned in my last comment to prove where the slingers need to improve.
So lets take a closer look at what you said about the third quarter. The quarter started off with a 4 point lead and with the regular starters playing – the 4 imports and wei jian. Tough defense played during the first few minutes of the quarter by all the slingers. Jeefers scored on a hook first, then the slingers had a terrible sequence where they gave up 4 offensive boards on one possession, but still played tight defense as the patriots still could not score. Patriots cut it back to 4 and then leblanc made a jumper. Patriots cut it back, but then al hit a 3 and made an assist to jeffers for a 2. Thats where the lead went up to 9 with 6 minutes plus left in the quarter. Weijian then committed a couple of fouls on him. Leblanc got fouled and sank 2 free throws – slingers led by 11 and at this point the substitutions were made and there were 3 slingers on the court – pathman, wei long and michael wong. Patriots cut it to 10 with a free throw and then pathman threw it away and jeffers got called for 4th foul and sat out. I think Khoo and leblanc checked in now, so I don’t know if there were ever 4 locals playing for 6 minutes? The last few minutes were played with Al, Leblanc, Pathman, Khoo, Desmond. This was the time when Pathman made a 3 point play, Vergera beat his man off the dribble and scored a layup, Leblanc had the famous ‘bloody’ play and made 1 out of 2 from the line and thats how the lead went up to 13.
So yes, the locals did play decent during the quarter but not extremely amazing as you keep pointing out, the imports were definitely still leading the team, in fact the main pushing up of the lead to double figures was done by the starting 5 which does have 4 imports. Lets give the locals their due diligence but not overdo it when it is not substantiated by the evidence!
@moh, this is not overdoing it. It’s just showing support for the Slingers. I’m guessing you are one of those guys cheering for the Patriots and then deflecting over to the Slingers after the game only when they won. Or perhaps, you are just one of those sitting at home.
By the way, let me correct you. You said “To me, the slingers are NOT the strongest team on paper and they do NOT have the strongest imports either”. If you say our local players are lousy and our imports are lousy too, then open your eyes, than how did the Slingers beat the Patriots, which you think is like way better than the Slingers? You seem to have the inability to connect your opinions with reality.
In my eyes, Philippines players in the patriots are lousy, so please stop trying to talk as if they are way better than our local players.
Leblanc had the famous ‘bloody’ play? Ibanez had a famous bloody play of hacking Leblanc hard and falling back after getting knocked by a teammate. It shows that you don’t watch games.
And please, thinking that Lonnie Jones is better than K.J is ridiculous. Lonnie scored only 4 points against KL Dragons and shot badly from the field. Apparently, your observations show that the blind one is you.
OMG, this is going to me my last post to you since you don’t use logic at all. How did you draw these conclusions, I think either I express myself very badly or you understand me very badly. I have been living in Singapore for 10 years, I watched almost all the games in the first season, all but one in the second season, all but one in the third season and both the games so far this season. The slingers have earned a lot of money from me and I am glad to have spent it. Please re-read my comments again, immediately after I say how the slingers roster is not the strongest on paper currently, I mention how they can still win with a weaker team and on what areas they can improve. I mention that they can use intensity and aggression to outplay superior opponents. I also say that to me its a good thing they are’t the strongest lineup currently because when they win its an even better accomplishment, to be able to play beyond expectations. So, thats why I don’t wish for them to be portrayed as the strongest lineup, because its an unrealisitc expectation to have.
When did I ever say our imports are ‘lousy’ and the locals are ‘lousy’? Look at what I said about LJ and KJ, I said in the post LJ made damn good moves against KJ. LJ had an advantage having a better post game, but KJ beat him in the fundamentals of boxing people out and being more focussed and determined to grab the boards. I have time and again said the locals play well but have tonnes to work on. As for our locals compared to the patriot locals – yes, I do think the patriots locals were damn good – you dont think they were?
You needn’t worry, I am and always have been a true slingers fan. I just don’t like it when the pinoy fans come here and talk rubbish about the slingers without proper facts, and then I am shocked to see that you are doing the same thing back to them regarding the patriots. But I am not going to waste anymore time on this, I am going to focus on the basketball and keep making my judgements based on evidence,you can go ahead and think what you want – it makes no difference to me.
Chill….Slingers are up 3-0 and remain unbeaten in the league. Isn’t it something to rejoice for all Slingerfans?
To be honest with everyone, with all the talks about the Slingers relying on imports, I’m actually worried about Marcus Ng. I did not have the chance to see the Barracudas away game, but statistically, he seems to blow hot and cold, and even foul out last night.
Perhaps, if you rank all the Slingers player-by-player, you did find Kyle, Mike LeBlanc and Al V in the top 3, then Marcus to be in the group of Wei Jian, Wei Long, Pathman and maybe Michael Wong. Potentially our weakest link in the starting 5.
In my opinon, Marcus is not really a scorer, but versatile player who does well in rebounds, assists and steals (for a forward-guard, at least). Definitely, his brother Darren is better than him. He was also playing with a fever against the Barracudas, so perhaps, that had hindered his game.
Thank God that Pathman is moving away from post moves. He was stagnant when he was training post moves like a centre. Now with more mid-range shooting and pick and rolls, he has become a bigger offensive threat than in the past. What I see different in the local Slingers today is that each of them are beginning to specialise. Pathman as a mid-range shooting and pick and roll player, Weijian as a slasher, Desmond as a defensive demon and hustle player, Michael wong as a pure catch-and-shoot outside shooter and Wei Long as a spot-up three-point shooter. In the past, Singaporeans players were quite homogenised, but now the specialisation is helping them contribute significantly to the team.
Don’t forget that Marcus has had a very tough year – I feel for him. He was supposed to come here as a development player last season when the slingers were still planning for the NBL. He then had a bad on court injury and had to have extensive surgery to reconstruct his knee. I haven’t seen any videos of him before the injury but apparently from what I have heard he had huge hops and was a big time dunker. Perhaps its possible that the injury has slowed him a bit? Was a pity about the injury – imagine if he had come – the Ng brothers would have wowed the crowd with Darren’s 3s and Marcus’s hops. So he has spent the last year rehabbing and getting back to form – a year off takes a huge toll – but hope he gets back to his old form soon.
@Les, @Slingerrocks,
You’d better get used to this kind of bashing – this is gonna be endless. Even in Philippine forums, there are lots of Pinoys bashing PBA Teams and on the opposite side, Pinoys bashing the SMART GILAS team.
This is even nothing compared to the bashing in threads involving the collegiate leagues (UAAP and NCAA).
This is the same in American sports (Yankees – Red sox rivalry). Problem here is that you don’t have an ignore function.
I would really like to see moh sit with us and our cheer crew during the next game against the Patriots. I am dying to see which team he would be cheering for…lol
hahahaha dude, don’t take offense, but I wouldn’t sit with you if we were the only two people who showed up to watch the game
:)
i like to sit and watch the game with people who have a good understanding of basketball
@moh, I don’t think you even turn up for any games. Even if you turn up, i don’t think you will be cheering for the slingers at all, so stop pretending to be a slinger fan. And please, you know close to nothing about basketball, so stop pretending to even be a basketball fan. Such a joke!
think what you want dude
your opinions and conclusions about me keep getting more delusional with every post you make – keep it up and you will become like that jimmy arroyo character!!
moh=jimmy arroyo
to tell you frankly in fiba asia particularly in SEABA, Singapore is in 4th or 5th place. the ranking i think is Philippines,indonesia, malaysia. i am not sure if thailand is fourth or singapore. in other words,singapore is not comparable to philippines.. bettet compare it to thailand…Anway, for me, the darkhorse will be the dragons. Patriots vs. dragons.
@jack To tell you frankly I think its tiring to repeat the whole ‘this isnt a national side competition’ thing. Some people just don’t get it, might as well give up…
@Slingerrocks/moh stop it you 2 lol. Lets all gather in the next game, we can fight over something better, who can cheer loudest for the Slingers! (I might just win
) Come on already guys, if we’re all Slingers fans, we should be united.
@jack. Using SEABA Championships as a comparison is totally inappropriate. Philippines Patriots is not comparable to Singapore. Singapore is now at 1st place while Philippines is 4th. I rather compare Singapore to Satria Muda at 2nd place. LOL
kuala lumpur dragons is the best, singapore slingers is the second best!
lol, slingers are exposed…
seriously, slingers need another import… they can lure those who cant make it to the pba..
Believe me, we Filipinos know our basketball.. The Patriots didn’t lose because of the Slingers play.. It’s because they just couldn’t convert.. Remember the 4th qtr?? Slingers were turning the ball over almost 50% of their possession.. But ugly misses from the Patriots spelled game over..
And I don’t like this Patriot bashing.. Hope the Slingers loss would bring you guys back to earth.. . .
oh my God, what are you guys arguing about? who’s the best team in the abl?
geez, as far as the pinoy players go the abl is a refugee league, all the filipino players and filipino imports here are either PBA rejects, has beens or simply not that good enough to make the pros back in Manila.
the funny thing is, even the best indonesian, singaporean, malaysian, thai or brunei player is even not as half as good as a PBA also ran like francis adriano. my oh my, if only kiko was 5 years younger he would still be back home playing real basketball in the PBA.
STOP ALL THIS.
Filipino/american Raymond Townsend is the second asian player in NBA in 1978 for Indiana PAcers, same batch with Larry Bird, after Japanese Wataru Misaka in 1947.
I had mentioned in the past, NO OTHER ASIAN TEAM, ever duplicate or even surpas the BEST finished of Philippine Bronze Medal in FIBA world and 5ft place in Olympics.
DONT EVER COMPARE the caliber of Philippine team to any ASEAN.
If having Filipino blood is the criteria, might as well say our country has already produced an Olympic Gold Medalist
(multiple Olympic Gold medalist Natalie Coughlin is half Pinay).
But the medal tally scores those golds under USA.