Patriots crush Slingers to hand them first ABL defeat
By Les Tan/Red Hoops in Manila
Slinger Michael LeBlanc (#35) finds Patriot captain Rob Wainwright (#5) in his way to the basket. LeBlanc had a game-high 16 points but shot only 38% from field-goal range. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
San Juan Arena, Manila, Saturday, November 7, 2009 – The Singapore Slingers were crushed 70-53 by the Philippine Patriots in their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) matchup, bringing their four-game winning streak to an abrupt halt.
The Slingers now have a 4-1 win-loss record while the Patriots are 3-1, their sole loss coming against the Slingers last month.
The Slinger starting five of Michael Wong, Marcus Ng, Kyle Jeffers, Michael LeBlanc and Desmond Oh were never allowed to settle by an intense Patriot defensive show in the first quarter and it was no surprise that the Patriots walked off leading 22-8 after just a quarter.
With Wong Wei Long and Lim Wai Sian down with chicken pox upon arrival in Manila and Al Vergara nursing a bruised knee, coach Frank Arsego knew the team was stretched to the limit.
“My intention was never to play Al [Vergara]. Maybe play him only for five minutes or two minutes but we couldn’t execute without him,” said Arsego.
As the Slingers started to crumble and were staring at an eight point deficit at 8-16, Arsego was compelled to introduce Al Vergara into the game with 2:15 left in the first quarter.
The Slingers achieved parity with the Patriots only in the early minutes of the first quarter, a one-handed dunk by Kyle Jeffers to make it 4-4 giving the Slinger bench some hope that maybe the depleted team could compete.
The Patriots though started to pull further ahead and by the time Brandon Powell sank a three-pointer to make it 14-6, Arsego had seen enough and introduced Vergara.
The momentum though was with the Patriots and they soon established an 18-point lead in the second quarter at 28-10 before Desmond Oh hit a 3-pointer at 6:45 to make it 28-13.
Patriot shooting started going cold, with their centre Jason Dixon getting mad enough to yell at his teammates to “bring the ball inside”.
Even then, the Patriots still walked off with a 13-point, 36-23 lead at half-time.
The Slingers started the third quarter brightly with a Jeffers two-handed slam and a Vergara 3-pointer to make it a 10-point game at 38-28.
The match got more interesting when Marcus Ng stole the ball to lay it up for two and another Jeffers slam dunk cut the deficit to nine at 33-42, forcing the Patriots coach Louie Alas to call a timeout to calm his team down.
Jeffers was having a hot streak and he delivered another one-handed slam when play resumed and now it was a seven-point deficit at 35-42.
The Slingers drew to within seven points late in the third quarter at 37-44 but threw away their opportunities at the free throw line. Michael Wong sank only one of three to narrow the deficit to six but that was the closest they would get.
From then on, some inconsistent calls from the Slinger point of view, a Rob Wainwright rejection of Marcus Ng and a missed Pathman layup saw an 8-4 Patriot run that gave the home team a 50-39 lead at the end of the third quarter.
At the same time, Filipino Elmer Espiritu also slammed the door shut on the Slinger resurgence. Espiritu had a three-point play and sank a jump shot to stretch the Patriot lead to 55-43 early in the fourth, giving his team breathing room after the Slingers came to within six at 50-44.
A Powell slam dunk at 6:00 to make it 57-43 raised cheers from the small home crowd before Espiritu scored another two points with a tip-in and Erwin Sta. Maria had a three-point play of his own to make it 62-49.
Vergara then limped out with 2:55 on the clock because of cramps caused by the taping of his knee injury.
The Patriots had a game-high 19-point lead towards the end of the fourth quarter before wrapping up the 17-point victory, 70-53.
“Since we’ve had our head coach [Louie Alas] back, we’ve played real good basketball. We’re confident as a team,” said Patriot captain Rob Wainwright who had eight points on the night.
American Brandon Powell had a team-high 14 points for the Patriots on 5 of 8 shooting from 2-point range and also spoke of a better team effort since the Patriots’ 74-69 loss to the Slingers on October 18.
“We worked on our team chemistry more,” reflected Powell, when asked what was different about this team from the one that showed up in Singapore last month.
On his own performance, Powell said: “I came out and played good. I had great intensity. I’m excited about the win. It was a big win for us.”
Patriot coach Louie Alas was pleased with the team’s performance.
“We had few turnovers in the game. We got only 11. I think that spelt the difference,” said Alas.
Two players also stood out for him.
“Jason Dixon played well. And [Elme] Espiritu played well also,” he added. Dixon had 12 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while Espiritu had seven points and five rebounds.
As for the Slingers, the last-minute loss of back up point guard Wei Long was a big blow.
“Wei Long pulling out [because of chicken pox] ripped the heart out of the team because he could have handled their #27 (Froilan Baguion),” said Arsego.
With Vergara doubtful and Wei Long not available, Arsego noted that Marcus Ng and Michael Wong struggled playing on point tonight.
“Marcus is not used to the physicality and Michael Wong is a good passer but he’s not comfortable starting plays off the dribble,” added Arsego.
The poor first quarter – where they were outscored 22-8 – played a big part in setting the tone of the game.
“I think we started off in a manner that the other team just knew that they were probably going to be in control. That was probably a bit hard to handle,” said Arsego.
The Slingers made up for it in the second and third quarter when they outscored the Patriots 15-14 and 16-14 respectively.
“Credit to the boys for getting us back to eight points [behind] at one point [in the fourth quarter], but unfortunately we missed three free throws and it could have been back to five [behind].
“At that point, if we could have held on for that little bit longer, maybe some things could have come around. But we would have had to play out of our skins to get through to the end. We just didn’t have enough horses to compete with a very good team,” Arsego concluded.
Quarter by Quarter Scores
Patriots vs Slingers
1st Q: 22-8
2nd Q: 14-15
3rd Q: 14-16
4th Q: 20-14
Singapore Slingers Game Box Score
| # | PLAYER | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | TO | STL | BS | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | *Oh Wei Jie Desmond | 3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16:42 |
| 5 | Wong Wei Long | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40:00 |
| 10 | Hong Wei Jian | 0 | 0/3 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18:11 |
| 11 | *Wong Yoon Suh Michael | 1 | 0/3 | 0/3 | 1/3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23:43 |
| 12 | Prasad Sadasivan | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Khoo Kian Huat Steven | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40:00 |
| 14 | Lim Wai Sian | DNP | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | Pathman Matialakan | 4 | 2/5 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11:04 |
| 19 | Al Vergara | 12 | 3/8 | 3/5 | 3/4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 32:43 |
| 21 | *Marcus Ng | 5 | 2/7 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 28:31 |
| 31 | *Kyle Jeffers | 14 | 7/14 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 37:33 |
| 35 | *Michael LeBlanc | 14 | 4/15 | 0/3 | 6/9 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 38:52 |
| Total | 53 | 19/58 | 4/19 | 11/18 | 12 | 28 | 40 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 200 |
Philippine Patriots Game Box Score
| # | PLAYER | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | TO | STL | BS | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *Brandon Charles Powell | 14 | 6/11 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 24:43 |
| 3 | *Warren Ybanez | 2 | 1/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 24:25 |
| 5 | Robert Wainwright | 8 | 2/5 | 2/4 | 2/2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18:16 |
| 8 | Val Acuna | 3 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:33 |
| 9 | Elmer Espiritu | 7 | 3/8 | 0/2 | 1/1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26:18 |
| 14 | Khasim Mirza | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3:12 |
| 15 | Dina Daa | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3:53 |
| 16 | *Jerwin Gaco | 11 | 4/6 | 0/0 | 3/3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 18:36 |
| 21 | Siverina, Jr Baclao | 4 | 2/3 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11:47 |
| 27 | *Froilan Baguion | 6 | 2/7 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 32:07 |
| 34 | Erwin Romme Sta.Maria | 3 | 1/4 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29:19 |
| 42 | *Jason Lamar Dixon | 12 | 5/12 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 33:23 |
| Total | 70 | 27/65 | 5/17 | 11/13 | 4 | 25 | 29 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 200 |
Slinger Al Vergara (#19) keeps an eye out for Warren Ybanez (Patriots, #3). Vergara played with a heavily strapped knee which ironically gave him cramps late in the fourth quarter, forcing him to retire. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Slinger Kyle Jeffers (#31) lays up over Wainwright. Jeffers dropped 10 points and had a team-high 13 rebounds. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Slinger Michael Wong (#11) drives past Brandon Powell (Patriots, #1). Michael was playing in the unfamiliar point guard position because of Vergara’s injury but the experiment wilted under the intense Patriots defense in the first quarter. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Patriot Jason Dixon (#42) eyes the basket while Jeffers defends. Dixon impressed coach Louie Alas with his 12-point, 8-rebound performance. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Patriot Powell flies high for two in a team-high 14 point performance. The American shot 5 of 8 (63%) from the field and had a crowd-pleasing slam dunk in the fourth. (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Patriot Wainwright drives between Slingers Jeffers and Vergara. The American had 8 points, playing 17 minutes in the game. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Patriot Froilan Baguion (#27) protects the ball against Vergara. Baguion, who played on despite spraining his left foot in the second quarter, had six points, three rebounds and six assists. His speed and defensive ability threw the Slingers off. (Photo 8 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Powell (in white) tangles with Desmond Oh (#2, centre) and Jeffers on a layup. A small crowd turned up to watch the game at the San Juan Arena. (Photo 9 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
again, the presence of espiritu and baclao changed the system of singapore slingers, these 6’4 and above players who did all the hassles and giggles of the game. when coach alas fielded this two players along with two imports ,they blew out the lead. baclao for instance blocked le blanc and pathman.this has made le blanc uncomfortable shooting 4/15 from the field goals and 0/4 from the arc.Secondly, with the imposing presence of these two, the patriots has added their depth in the bench. hence, they executed the full court press the whole time.That is why brandon powell has executed a good offense.Whenever there was a switch, with the presence of baclao and spiritu they can effectively handle against any player of singapore from point guard to center.. kyle jeffers felt uncomfortable too because this two additional players jumps higher and can challenged him everytime he held the ball..Sans of any injury, this patriots will not be beatin and can reap the first abl championships.. any abl team could not handle their feisty defense because of the depth of the bench.. so,singapore should add another filipino player otherwise they will be vunerable to the new retooled kuala lumpur dragons.
KL Dragons is now much stronger than before because of the 2 new filipino imports.They showed that againts the Tigers..
But i dont know this Nov. 15 in which the KL Dragons will play their toughest home game againts the new Patriots who are becoming stronger team beacause of the new players coming from College- 6’4″ Elmer Espiritu and 6’5″ Nonoy Baclao.These two are known for their shot blocking abilities and defence because of thei leaping ability and great timing..
This will be a good test for the KL Dragons.Dragon’s point guard filipino import Linganay is Elmer Espiritu’s team mate in college from University of the East..c”,)
Good luck to both teams.ABL is becoming one of my favorite basketball league..
Slingers are quiet. thought they feel themselves invinsible.
Pretty biased writing.. All about the Slingers and little about the winners..;p well, its a Singaporean site..
The Patriots are now ready to dominate.. Didn’t see the intensity when Coach Bogs was handling them.. Now that Coach Louie is now coaching, they are playing better.. Especially with the recent additions of Baclao, Espiritu and Acuna..
And whats with the stat sheet? Saw PLENTY of blocks but none were listed..
Anyways, get back to earth Slingers fans..;p but I want to see you guys throw the excuses.. Having 2 players out and Vergara semi-injured can’t be the issue coz the Patriots were somewhat the same (Coronel out and Baclao, Baguion with slight injuries).. But your 2 guys were really missed out there..
No hate against you guys.. Just a little trash-talking here.. It’s part of being a fan..^_^
Good luck to the ABL and their teams..
Hi Eindhow,
Hmmm. Little about the winners?
I’ve read the match reports on Filipino sites such as abs-cbnnews.com, gmanews.tv, globalnation.inquirer.net (Cebu News Daily) and philstar.com, this is the only story that mentioned what the winners say/feel/think about their win. Great to hear about the win from the winning horses’ mouth. : ) Yet Red Hoops is not affiliated to any of the clubs in ABL if you don’t already know.
The stats sheet was acquired from the official ABL sources, you may want to direct your query to the ABL, thank you : )
I’m glad for the Patriots to have coach Louie back, I’ve heard much about how he transformed teams to win championships especially at the college level. With the ABL being pretty ASEAN youth-focussed, I think he is a perfect fit to be the Patriots head coach. : )
We’re just midway through the elimination round. Lots of things can happen.
Seems like Satria has been energized with the new import. Same with the KL dragons. Can’t discount Thailand yet.
Just hope your favourite team is the one to win the very last game of this tournament.
The crowd turnout for the game is very bad.
I hope the fan support for the other teams continue to grow.
Slingers have time to address any weak links in the team.
@ Eindhow, if you want to criticise this site for being biased, why are you here? Be thankful that Redhoops even covered the game. Otherwise only less than 500 fans in Philippines would know about the game. If you don’t like this site, go set up one covering the ABL yourself.
Oh yea, I was rebounding the ball and this Filipino guy tried to throw a dirty move to trip me. And he pretended nothing happened. Is this typical too?
Slingerrocks,
Not all Filipinos play like that. But it’s true, you’ll see one once in awhile. Last time I have a busted lip – a fellow Filipino elbowed me.
Last time I played in Eunos Community Center, there were some locals doing dirty tricks. But we don’t stereotype that every local is like that.
And in my life, I haven’t met any Pinoy actually bragging about their skills in a pickup game.
ABL is not a nation versus nation tournament. It’s sad to see he taunting and trahs talk between some fans.
If any of you are longing for it, there’s the FIBA ASIA 16-under tournament. I think it’s this November. Maybe Singapore and Philippines would meet.
I’m rooting for KL because their game -particularly Rudy’s and their love for shooting 3s – appeals to me. I can always show my patriotism during FIBA Asia tournaments.
Anyway, enjoy the ABL games.
@Slingerrocks Hey, I’m just a fan like you looking for updates about the match.. When I saw this, it felt like the Slingers won the game.. It was an honest opinion..
Now I know why my fellow Pinoys hate you..;p I won’t argue.. It hard arguing when the other side doesn’t accept ideas from others.. You’re pretty narrow-minded.. Show some love once in a while..;p
But hey, maybe my comments would help the moderators of this site to post unbiased articles.. It should be more about the winners than the losers.. Look at Filipino articles.. When we lost, it was all about your Slingers.. Again, it was an honest opinion.. I know its a Singaporean site, but its not SlingersHoops..:D
And about how we Fils play, thats natural.. We play basketball in a physical way because if you don’t know, basketball is a contact sport.. Believe me, I have many scars to prove it.. BUT if the guy did that on purpose, maybe he was just playing dirty..;p
@jan Thanks for the reply..^_^
@Eindhow
I will say upfront that my articles are all biased. Why? Because every writer writes with a certain filter in front of his eyes. It is unavoidable, it is natural. There is no such thing as an objective story in my book.
So to ensure diverse voices and opinions, our policy is quite simple – you send it, we post it.
We welcome readers sending in their stories and we’ll post them here on Red Hoops.
If you would like to send an article to us about the game you watched, please do so at our contact page: http://redhoops.com/contact/
We set this site up for all ASEAN fans of basketball. Sure, we’re based in Singapore and we are the ones who started redsports.sg. But this is not a Slinger site. We obviously have easier access to the Slingers since we’re in the same country but we think ASEAN basketball needs a site like this and this site is the first of its kind for ASEAN – in English, and dedicated to basketball, specifically the ABL.
If you’re a basketball fan based in Brunei, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and you would like to write a story that will be read by others in the region, please join us in this little adventure online by sending in your story. : )
People around the world think ASEAN is a bit of a joke or a backwater. Most Americans and Europeans wouldn’t know ASEAN unless they’ve travelled or worked in these parts.
So we think the ABL is good for all ASEAN countries. Collectively, we 550 million are a force to be reckoned with, and an ABL is one good way to give our region a sporting face.
So that’s why Red Hoops exists.
It is natural for everyone to feel passionate about their own country team and we’ll moderate this site with as light a touch as possible but at the end of the day, this league is for all of us to enjoy. The bigger it becomes, the better for all of us.
Hi Deana. : ) Thank you for your unabashed support for Red Hoops.
Yes, I was doing double duty in Manila, shooting and writing the game. I run this site out of my own pocket and so not able to provide for more than myself flying up to cover the Slingers at the moment.
So that’s why we are opening up the site to anyone in Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), Bandar Sri Begawan (Brunei), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Manila (Philippines) who wants to write about the game since they live there.
“You send it, we post it” is the way we work here.
We are trying to get the word out slowly about the site. But it will take some time, of course. : )
Yeaahh Redhoops.com!!! Looks like you finally have some major rucus going on from many different Team fans on this site! Word is getting out that you are an unbiased website for ALL of the ABL teams with the most updated, intricate, lively, complete news on all of the Teams including lively play by play feed during the games! Gooo Redhoops!! Fans of all the Teams are now spreading the word that your site is for all fans within the ABL League so hopefully they will stop hating on you just because you are based in Singapore! Congrats!
@Slingerrocks THAT’S NOT EVEN A RACIST REMARK!;p
Jack, Jeffers had 14/10, 2 steals, 2 blocks & several missed shots by the Patriots cause he touched the shooters shot causing em not to sink… another D/D… 2 Slingers get Chicken Pox stepping foot in Manilla?? hmmmnnnn think again Jack… A Patriot goes for the Family Jewels?? That didn’t stop Jeffers… where was the foul on that injury?? Slingers 1 vs Patriots 1… you all were just lucky this time… lets see next time since this is obviously a duel with you of who has the best Team… 4-1 SLINGERS!!!!!
Jay!! We aren’t quiet, we are just reading the article… lol… don’t think we aren’t here, we just have a life!
Eindhow: I agree the Blocked shots are being left out! Slammin a shooters shot is all that seems to be counted in ABL whereas any tip of the shooters shot that causes a clear miss is considered a blocked shot here in the US.. but what do we know?? We just have the NBA & the best College BB in the world… lol
Wait, maybe it was..;p but I don’t think it is.. Calling Filipinos losers don’t sound racist IMO..;p
To Fellow Filipinos,
If Slingerrocks want to say their players are better than our players then he’s entitled to his own opinion.
You can’t control other people’s insights/opinions. How many times have you seen a poster in a UAAP/NCAA forums actually gave in to another troll and say “on second thought, you are correct! your team is really better than mine!!! I’m enlightened now”.
Honestly speaking I find some of his arguments illogical, but it’s no different to Pinoy posters in other basketball forums – they keep inserting a Filipino player as one of the top players in Asia (I’m not talking about Jimmy Alapag – even the Lebanese top players consider him as the top point guard in Asia; I’m talking about others who have not proven anything yet in FIBA Asia), even inserting the ancient 1954 accomplishments as against China’s current emergence in global basketball , Allan Caidic being the most feared Asian 3-point shooter during his time just because of his 17 3-pointers,15 3-pointers in some games (yes, Allan is always on the radar of China, Japan and Korea – but is he really better than his peers – SoKor’s Lee Chung Hee and Kim Hur Jae?). It’s a good thing the other nationalities just ignore those comments.
Hey mart, thanks for your thoughtful and considered opinions. I enjoy reading them and find them most insightful.
Dravon!! wake up!!! it isn’t over till it’s over, any of you Patriots have a Crystal Ball?? if so may I buy one please?? lol.. anything can happen… Slingers were 4-0, you all just got lucky with 3 of our other best Slinger players down & I mean DOWN… low blow on Jeffers jewels didn’t stop him!! LeBlanc kicked butt… Brandon Powell did good shooting 14 pts, just like Jeffers & LeBlanc got 14 pts. too, but Powell did not pull down the Rebounds… none of the Patriots did.. Slingers out Rebounded, BS’s are missing from Boxscore.. but Slingers had em… 13 PF’s for Slingers compared to 21 PF’s for Patriots… that is some sloppy playin going on… they all have alot to work on… so good luck to all the Teams, may the best Team win!!
I have to admit I did cry once when Jeffers got that low blow to the jewels… but then I am a Slinger Mom, so it was a personal thing… lol… No crybabies over here otherwise, because that Boxscore shows it all… now stop the hating fans!! look at the facts! Route for your Team! Have fun & support them, that is what makes the game exciting!
I also need to reiterate that Redhoops.com has the most unbiased, factual, lively writing for all teams in their articles & are now getting feeds from the other Teams who obviously are now waking up to the fact that Redhoops.com is THE site that covers the ABL!!!! This article had play by play, an interview with Powell AND both Head Coaches!! That is how it is supposed to be… except here in the US, the Media also talks to the highest Scorer/Rebounder on both teams regardless who wins or looses… but that can be worked on I am sure.. How boring an article it would be if the winning team was all they wrote about? Was the other team not there, score 70-0???? Come on the Media always covers both teams so lets give these writers the space they need to do their jobs for all of the Teams! I have the most experience in this subject then you youngins out there having been a BB Mom for 20 years, so just showin my love to all… Go ABL!!!!
Les, I don’t think your writing is biased at all.. In fact I wish you would write more leaning towards the Slingers!!! lol Trust me your site is no joke over here… many, many fans based here in the USA are gonna be reading it & lots of them already are from the feedback I have been getting!! I saw to that!! I am gonna get in trouble from a certain player.. lol
The US fans were just not aware of your site that’s all… Plus many of the fans based outside of Asia are reading up on the Imports whose Family, friends,fans, are in fact all over the world.. Most will not put in there comments though… they are shy or don’t know about Redhoops yet, maybe…
Might I make a suggestion please? Have the Teams PR/Coaches/Players been hopefully informed of this site so they can get the word out of where to go for the most up to date info… I am not seeing any feedback from the Imports fans as yet unless they are under an alias name..lol. I just am one to click on everything at the Slingers website & thankfully you were there! I have not checked to see if the other Teams have you as the site to go to…. so I hope your site can handle the hits it is gonna get!! lol
LES TAN!!! you are a fantastic photographer!! TY!!!!! are you one in the same? Write and photograph?? D/D for double duty?? lol
@Deana, thanks for stepping out and saying something.
@mart, thanks too for clarifying. I shall say outright that my comments are biased too. I am a hardcore Slinger fan. What’s wrong with supporting my team and saying things that I feel passionate about? Yes, they can be illogical sometimes. But so? They are met to be heartfelt words. They don’t need to make sense to others. It’s just an opinion from a crazy fan. Fans ought to be crazy about their team right?
@Deana, chicken pox has an incubation period… if you don’t know what that means check it out. as for hitting the balls that’s a biased comment, basketball is a contact sport and players get hit anywhere.slingerrocks doesn’t have a life he is always here…lol. @slingerrocks, finally you are talking, missed you buddy. You are the one who is bragging, even posting your score as if you are some kind of lebron james ( i am a MAVS fan by the way).
to all slinger fans, the slingers have a weak bench… if one of their starters gets injured they can’t play ball no more, and if they loose, their fans have their excuses… they have 8 players when they played the patriots they did not play 2. they can’t even let their imports rest and take up gas… and lucky for leblanc he sat down because of the unintentional “low blow” lol.
to all Filipino fans, we don’t own basketball but we do have good players, lets give the Singaporeans a chance, maybe in a decade they can pull out some great talents from their itsy bitsy island population to win at the Olympics. or they can create super athletic androids to compete, they are very rich and they have a very high end technology by the way…
hope the kuala lumpur dragons will win tonight.chris kuete and rudy lingganay are exciting to watch!!..To deanna, jeffers was hit by diminutive ybanez in his mojo, but it was an accident situation, bec it was jeffers who initiated the contact, he tried to lock ybanez in the baseline and the latter tried to escape to avoid to step in the line. actually jeffers scored in the game and play the game well, but it cannot be denied that he felt uncomfortable..le blanc was trounced by the good rotation defense, well the presence of baclao and espiritu was felt inside the court.during their first match these two did not yet play…
Hi Deana
You are an amazing supporter of Red Hoops! Thank you! It’s always very encouraging hearing from you. : )
We’ve actually hunted down the PR of all the teams and they are aware of us, though some teams are operating without a PR seeing that there is not much media coverage at the moment so no need for one. It’s a bit like that in Asia, I guess everyone is just waiting for someone to get things going but Les is just someone who will just get on with the agenda. : )
Once the fanship of ABL picks up – and we are doing what we can with this site to facilitate it – word will go around about us too! So in the interim, thank you so much for those who like what we are doing!
this basketball thing is pretty new in Singapore so it’s expected of fans to react a certain way especially when our favourite team loses.
the fact is the Slingers lost. for almost a decade, i’ve seen cheap excuses from Philippine UAAP/NCAA forums on why their team lost a game and one thing every Filipino college hoops junkie knows is that to blame a loss on the absence of a player (or two) is admitting that the team isn’t deep enough.
it took more than 25 years for the PBA to develop a game where teams are at least 10-man deep and their import (because they only allow one) can be limited to a support role from a game where the import dominates the statistics sheet and the bench just gets garbage-time minutes.
move on Slingers fans. with or without Wong Wei Long, your team should be able to beat KL even if Rudy Lingganay scores 30.
@Les What can I do? I’m not the writer of this site.. Heck I don’t even write like this And I’m not even a writer!;p
Hey, I’m not bashing or anything.. It was an honest opinion.. And your answer is accepted.. One voice can’t change it..
But you know, I’m thankful that we have a site like this dedicated to the ABL.. I’m much more into the ABL than our PBA.. Yes, the PBA has WAY better players but they don’t play accdg to FIBA rules, which the ABL uses.. And FIBA rules is what matters in international competition.. And I’m into international competitions..;p
Thanks for the answer Les! Thanks for RedHoops.. More power to the ABL and it’s teams..:D
Hi Eindhow. I welcome your opinion and I did not consider it bashing. If it was, I wouldn’t reply to you. : ) After running an online site for almost three years, I have decided to only answer thoughtful and meaningful comments.
If you do feel the urge to write, we’ll gladly accept your story. : ) It’s an open invitation.
Certainly the PBA is a way better competition now in terms of heritage, following, commercial success.
I’m personally bullish about the ABL because conceptually it is a brilliant idea. Of course, ideas, even great ones, are a dime a dozen. What matters is the execution and so we’ll see how the ABL will turn out.
If it can survive a few years, it will build up a head of steam that will generate a momentum all of its own.
Since the whole idea is backed by private money, it has half a chance of surviving. Usually any long term league that just depends on government money and one or two major sponsors has a poor success rate, at least in Singapore’s context (reference the Singapore football league known as the S.League).
les is right that this ABL depends upon the capacity of the team owners to spend money, otherwise it will not survive… I am really afraid that Philippine crowd will hardly appreciate and support the patriots. When i saw the game AGAINST slingers, i can immediately observed that there were only a hundreds of people who watched the game(most of them were family and friends of the players,officials and employees of ABL) even if it was for free..In this regard, I immediately made a comparison when the defunct MBA first opened their games , it was supported by thousands of followers,they have a huge regional fans,especially in the provinces represented by a team.it was also a home and away game format.YET, they did not survived. It will likely happen to patriots but maybe not to singapore,malaysia,and indonesia or brunei. it is sad to say that to make all patriots game in metro manila will not generate crowd because metro manila is also the place of PBA,PBL,UAAP and NCAA.In other words, it is overcrowded by a lot of basketball games where the best players of the philippines are currently into it..The filipinos dont like basketball games played by imports..They still think that the games fo ABL are not competitive and excitng as PBA do or the national team. I hope that the filipinos will support patriots and learn to love it as they loved ginebra,pba,uaap,ncaa,or smart gilas. i hope.
@Deana,
You’re getting a wee bit carried away, methinks. First of all, your three best players? Yes, I’d consider Vergara your starting point guard– but the other two? Lim Wai Sian hasn’t even managed to score in four games! And is averaging half a rebound per game! Wei Long is a good backup guard and accurate from beyond the arc, but when all’s said and done, he’s good for just 8.5 points per game.
As for the low blow on Jeffers? It was in no way or form intentional. It was just an unfortunate juxtaposition of the appropriate body parts in two people with vastly differing heights. Even Jeffers didn’t feel it was deliberate– otherwise he would’ve protested vehemently at the no-call.
The personal fouls– It’s quite within the realm of reason to suspect that the Slingers, with their depleted lineup, were deliberately shying away from contact to avoid from fouling out.
As for the chicken pox argument, that is patently laughable. It takes 10 to 21 days after contact with an infected person for one to develop chicken pox. IIRC, the Slingers were still playing at home then. Unless you’re suggesting an irate Patriots fan based in Singapore somehow managed to expose your players to the varicella zoster virus and time it such that they developed symptoms ON THE EXACT SAME DAY AS THE GAME. Such a person would a true master of microbiology. He or she should be found immediately and put to work on developing the AIDS and swine flu vaccines.
If the team is really strong, they can still win with injured players..
Example: Look out the L.A. Lakers,even with out Paul Gasol (one of their key player)they are still a strong team..
@kettch, aren’t u very very quarrelsome to pick on Deana?
Highlights of Singapore Slingers’ defensive stopper, Desmond “D-Glove” Oh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlofcnTLSXo
@Slingerrocks! no worries, I just had time to read the site yesterday! I appreciate your standing up for me, but I can handle myself… really… lol
@ Jake!!! listen, I know first hand about Chicken Pox.. These guys hit the ground & boom, down with one of the most devastating diseases that a young man can get & the worse part is they have to deal with scars, and a posiibility of becoming sterile… no frikken laughing matter! I am a Slinger mom that is like a Bear protecting her Slinger Cubs… got it??? That is why here in the USA all infants get their shots & have Chicken Pox before pre-school age in order to not get them when young adults…. furthermore get your facts straight Jake! I was watching the live stream game & saw Jeffers get the LOW BLOW… he is strong, not his first blow there & he got right back in the game! You are truly a hater… cut it out!
Ketch!! I said the OTHER 3 GOOD PLAYERS… Jeffers & LeBlanc were getting covered big time… If I had 2 guys on my butt pushing me around I would be uncomfortable too! They just had to be careful not to stomp on the smaller opponents… LOL Vagara was in pain & not up to par… lucky for the Patriots! Wei would have been good for 8.5 pts! do the math darlin…
I saw the low blow… it was unintentional… otherwise they would have called a Technical… I have nursed numerous sports injuries over the years so you are not talking to some idiot that knows nothing on this subject… I in fact was very athletic back in the day also, so trust me, I realize some players are short & Jeffters towered over him & ooppsss… so next time any player gets a guy corned like that they better put one hand over their ummmm u know…
P.S. Read my note to Jake about tha chicken pox… I didn’t mean that the guys were purposely infected for goodness sakes or they would have taken out the whole team if they could… sorry I worded that wrong…. My Phillipino friends here in the US know what I meant… In fact we had a good laugh over that one, the way I said it that is… no hating here…
For all of you that have said this is a contact sport & players will get hurt, well don’t you think true BB fans know this? In fact, I have always said that BB is more dangerous then Football. Football players are armoured up for major blows, but not BB players.. They wear a mouth piece, where in fact they should wear elbow/knee guards & for goodness sakes a cup!! lol.. Well some Teams do have the guys wear cups… I have had many a talk with Head Coaches, Therapists, etc. on this subject over the last 20 years, but as you can see, none of the BB Leagues anywhere in the world are keeping these players safe from possible injuries like this & protecting the players joints.
Peace out! Have a great day!
@Deana, are you staying in the US at the moment? Do the Slingers have fans in the US?
8.5 points is a big deal.
Let’s run through the local Patriots’ stats:
Warren Ibanez 4.5 points
Dino Daa 1.3 points
Elmer Espiritu 7.5 points
Erwin Romme Sta.maria 3.3 points
Froilan Baguion 6.3 points
Jerwin Gaco 9.3 points
Khazim Mirza 1.5 points
Siverino, Jr Baclao 4.5 points
Val Acuna 1.3 points
How many local Patriots scored above 8.5 points? None, except 1. And you say 8.5 points isn’t good enough. Imagine Patriots missing Jerwin Gaco. That’s a lot!
Slingers are also missing Steven Khoo who contributes 2.7 points and he is a reliable cornerman needed to give K.J and M.L.B a good rest. Slingers play their away games without him due to national service commitments.
@Slingerrocks That’s what you call SPREADING THE WEALTH.. As you can see, the Patriots can stretch their bench until the last man possible.. That’s what the Slingers don’t have.. The players played so good their last game that it seemed like Coronel’s intensity was not missed..
miller the new 6’10 import of satria muda bring muscles to the team. Jeffers and dixon will have a hard time against him..jeffers should watch out his mojo against miller.
Satria Muda blew out the Barracudas
Tigers just blew out my KL Dragons = (
It is still anybody’s ball game. I’ve been to other forums frequented by Filipinos. Some people like what the ABL offers.
It’s a very good training ground for the ASEAN players especially since there are no height restrictions for the Imports.
In the Philippines, high-school players 6’2 or above are put into the power forward and center positions (since in the PBA, 6’4 players are already centers/PF). These players eventually do not have their outside shooting, dribbling, and other guard skills enhanced.
When it comes to international play, 6 foot and under Pinoy guards end up being matched up against 6’3 to 6’5 guards of opposing teams. And the little Pinoy centers cannot match up with the opposing frontline players – in height, power and even speed.
ABL’s imports are tall and mobile enough to prevent ASEAN “big” men from just getting their scores by posting up/inside plays. This will force any youth players aspiring to play in the ABL to develop guard-like skills instead of dreaming to be like Charles Barkley.
ASEAN players do not grow as tall as players of other regions so maybe we can’t beat their teams consistently, but at least with something like the ABL, we can eventually produce 6’4 or taller guards that can play for Australia, Europe and eventually the NBA.
If ABL prospers, there might be a race among the ASEAN nations to send a player in the NBA.
Which bragging rights would you rather have? Being ASEAN basketball champions? or having the first home bred ASEAN player to play in the NBA?
@mart – another thoughtful comment. Enlightening for me.
i don’t know how much of a big deal the ABL is back in Singapore, but your typical Filipino basketball fan doesn’t really give a damn about the ABL. really.
minus the imports, the Patriots’ roster is composed of ex-PBA players who were cut by their former teams, undrafted ex-PBL players, and college seniors just looking for match fitness. in other words, the team that beat the Slingers had players who are either raw talents or PBA scrubs.
perhaps the hype generated by beating pre-season mode PBA teams did them in. this is basketball, not videogames or fantasy basketball. a stat sheet of averages over 4 games doesn’t tell how good a player is. statistics can’t explain why LeBlanc went 4/15 and rested just 2 minutes… but watching the game tells me that if the Slingers’ imports are shut down, they don’t have anyone else who can contribute.
speaking of watching, check out a couple of highlights from the Patriots’ 2 new players:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yBPkROhoug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8Vy3I0RaU
@mart, we Asians have an average height of 5’4″, while Caucasians can reach 5’8″. that’s why they can grow more tall players than Asians do. basketball is a big mans sport unlike football, so unless we evolve and become taller we can’t match Caucasian players in their own game…
Jake,
Basketball is not totally a big man’s sport. Calvin Murphy, John Stockton,Isiah Thomas, etc. are small. the thing is they are in the correct position (point guards). And they face taller defenders.
Yes, we do have some 6’2 point guards, 6’3 shooting guards in the PBA, but whenever they drive in the lane, the players waiting for them are 6’6, 6,7 and anyone beyond that are not mobile enough to bring a stiffling defense – so they concentrate more on showtime instead of perimeter shooting. So when it comes to international play, they have to adjust against taller defenders.
Arwind Santos – considered a fearsome inside operator in the PBA but is outmatched against the big boys of the Middle East.
slingerrocks is actually getting known in a pinoy forum/thread – this is a good business opportunity – sell anti-Slingerrocks t-shirts to Pinoy fans. Maybe Slingerrocks could up the ante… this means money!!! google “Brian Bosworth John elway” to see what I’m talking about..
@mart, that’s great! Hopefully the “anti-Slingerrocks” T-shirt will get more than 500 people to watch the games in the Philippines. Got to create some fanfare (and anti-fanfare). Apparently, it is Singapore that has one of the biggest basketball crowd instead of the Philippines. Less than 500 people supporting the Patriots is unbelievable for a basketball-loving nation like the Philippines.
Agree with what you said about the lack of height. It is the same here in Singapore. At 6’7, Pathman Matialakan has been playing centre his entire life until the ABL started. It is good seeing him move to the 4 spot and concentrate on his shooting right now. In fact, I really hope Steven Khoo could move down to a 3 position because at 6’2, it would be impossible to play power forward against biggies at 6’8 or 6’9.
By the way, Flyboy, Desmond D-Glove and Wei Long(ranger)’s quickness are all faster than Kobe Bryant’s, so at the least that is something that we can brag about. I’m not kidding. Seriously. We have incredibly quick players in Singapore from our fastbreak trainings at schools.
Flyboy, Desmond D-Glove and Wei Long(ranger)’s quickness are all faster than Kobe Bryant’s
Couldn’t help but smile..^__________,^
with regards to the 500 attendance at the patriots game in manila, give it more time for the philippine patriots to bolster their fan base and as long as the patriots will perform well and be worthy of the fans attention. i hope this abl can get the attention of the pinoys..talking about a basketball loving country, it would really be on the advantage of this league if they could hook the pinoy fans. most of them still aren’t aware that this league exists.
man, rudy linganay’s move is more like gilbert arenas’ step back jumper. awesome!
Slingerrocks!! Make some money on those Pinoy T-Shirts!!!! lmao!
Yes, I am in the USA… My son is on the Slingers Team… figure out which player & I will buy you a T-Shirt!!! lol
k Slingerrocks & anyone interested, just think about this for a minute about the fan base all over the world with every Import in the ABL… All of the Imports are PRO BB Players recruited from other Countries or out of College right? These players have thousands of followers as most come from High Ranked Colleges… and/or from other Pro-Leagues around the world.. Now do the math! Start adding up the followers of LeBlanc, Jeffers & Brandon Powell alone… these guys are VERY POPULAR here in the States so right there you can add thousands of followers… I have not researched all the other Teams players, but my guess is the ABL needs to reach there hand out via the Internet together with ESPNSTARS.com (who I am highly disappointed with at the moment, due to the fact that they have the capability to stream the live games to everyone via the Internet & can make a bundle on charging us BB Addicts for a season pass so those of us who cannot be in the Asean area can watch our favorite Teams play)!!!! & Redsports.com needs the backing of the ABL as well….
Now the ABL is new, yet hopefully they will make a deal with ESPN & Redhoops to get these games out to the world using the technology that is right at their fingertips!!! Make it available to all of us who want to see the games… this is why I said that Redhoops.com is my fav website because this site is the only thing going RIGHT for the ABL at this point! ESPN is good for those that get the Asean Coverage… Yet, a newly developed League needs to get their Marketing Strategy together and FAST if they plan on building this league up to the 10-20 Teams that they plan to have in the near future… They have great Sponsors, now they must use some stategic moves to get things going in the right direction, (Like with ESPN, which here in the US is a VERY STRONG NETWORK for all sports fanatics in every sport known to mankind!) Let’s hope the RIGHT PEOPLE READ THIS… yet, what do I know?? I’m just a BB mom for years seeing these strategies used in the USA so what do I know?? lol…
Les, Congrats to you Redhoops staff for your selflessness supporting the ABL, because I feel you are the most dedicated, SELF – FUNDED WEBSITE OUT HERE FOR US!!! TRUE ABL SUPPORTERS!!! I suggest you start charging a reaonable fee to us fans so that you don’t use all your savings to keep this FANTASTIC site running! I am in, sign me up!! Seriously Les… This unsensored forum is what the ABL needs!
P.S. Thanks Jan!! I appreciate your kind words & keep Marketing!
TY all for all the links to Slinger game clips with music!! Yeahhh
@Deana Hi , KJ’s mom XD You’re really a passionate basketball fan. I really hope you’ll come down to Singapore for a game in the near future. That way, we can cheer for the team together and maybe Redhoops and interview you! First ever interview with a Slingers mom
@Deana, like Gordon, my guess is KJ’s mom? Anyway, I’ve been watching the Slingers since they first started out 3 seasons ago and KJ is seriously the best import we ever had…TOPS…He could even match Giles who signed for the Lakers in the preseason. That is something none of our previous imports could do. Here’s the Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JooduEC1rKk
Really hoping KJ’s gonna be the first ABL MVP!!!!