By Erwin Wong/Red Hoops

After 45 matches played over the course of more than three months, the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) regular season has come to a close.

This region finally has a professional basketball league to call our own, and we’ve seen our fair share of thrills and spills as the six teams battled for league supremacy and a coveted play-off spot.

We now know the identities of the four teams taking part in the 2009/10 post-season, but before the first match tips off on Sunday, January 31, here are some number-crunching information about all six teams.

You may know that Satria Muda’s star centre Nakiea Miller led the league in scoring, rebounds and blocks, but do you know which team is ahead in those categories?

The Patriots have clinched first position in the league (and home-court advantage throughout the play-offs), but which aspect of the numbers game are they the weakest in?

Stay tuned to find out all these, and much more, as Red Hoops brings you the first installment of the 2009/10 ABL statistical season review.

Knock yourself out.

Team Offence:

Let’s start with team offence. The Singapore Slingers led the league in field goal and three-point field goal percentage (although they took the least number of shots in both categories), but are second from bottom in free throw percentage, making only 55.9% of their league-high 338 attempts from the charity stripe. Steven Khoo and Al Vergara led the league in individual field goal and three-point field goal percentage over the course of the season.

The Brunei Barracudas were one of the better shooting teams in the league, ranking second in FG% and 3FG%, and third in FT%, but their accuracy will not be seen in the post-season as the team finished fifth, and out of a play-off spot.

Satria Muda BritAma paced the league in rebounds, steals and blocks per game. Miller was the runaway individual league leader in the rebounds and blocks, particularly in the latter category. He blocked more shots (41) than three teams could manage.

Miller also led his team in steals and was ably aided in this department by Alexander Hartman and Faisal Julius.

The Thailand Tigers finished bottom of the league and may have been hurt by their lack of ball movement and retaining of possession. They were last in assists and turnovers per game.

The KL Dragons made a brilliant late push for the play-offs and were rewarded when they won three of their final four matches. They ranked second in the league in free throw shooting accuracy (66.4%) and shot 81% (47 of 58) in those three vital victories.

Free throw shooting will definitely come into play during the play-offs and the Dragons will look to use their hot shooting from the charity stripe to their advantage. The flip side is that they will play a Philippine Patriots team that leads the league in this discipline.

The league leaders also had the most assists (14.7 per game), and racked up the most fouls in the league (21 per game).

Check back tomorrow when we will have the statistical breakdown of team defence.

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

ABL 2009/10 Regular Season Stats: Team Offence

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