By Jan Lin/Red Hoops in Jakarta
Patriots’ ball of energy, American import Gabriel Freeman, celebrates with a teammate. His 19 rebounds was essential to his team’s victory. He also scored 17 points in his 38.40 minutes performance. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Though the winning team of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) hailed from basketball powerhouse Philippines, both the coaches of Satria Muda BritAma and the Philippine Patriots asserted that it was the imports that separated the two sides and gave Patriots the victory.
“The imports [would] make the difference to how successful the team will be,” said both coach Louis Alas of the Patriots and coach Fictor Roring of Satria Muda unanimously after Game 3 of the ABL finals series where Patriots beat Satria Muda 75-67 to lift the league’s maiden title.
Despite a rousing start in the first period, where Satria Muda seized an early lead, Satria Muda’s American import Nakiea Miller suffered an eye injury caused by Patriot Jerwin Gaco half-way through the first period and this disrupted the hosts’ scoring momentum. Even though the 6-foot-10 American was reintroduced into the game in the second period, his role was relegated to just that of a scarecrow.
“I had to take Nakiea out for five to 10 minutes after he went down and even when he got back he was having problems with his vision,” coach Roring told Red Hoops. “But I told him to just stand there, the rest of the players will feel more confident just knowing he’s on the court.”
“But to beat Patriots, that was not enough. We need Nakiea,” coach Roring said matter-of-factly. As it was, Miller scored only three points in the first half courtesy of the sole 3-pointer before he was wounded, and he found the basket only twice in the second half.
While Miller finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, his usual partner-in-crime Alex Hartman, who completed the inaugural season as the league’s top scorer with 378 points (18 points per game), contributed only 14 points on Sunday and blamed himself for shooting poorly.
“But to be honest, I am feeling tired,” said the 25-year-old who holds both Canadian and American citizenship. He let out that he has never felt such strain in the previous ABL games. “My team really needed me to push the ball in this game because our point guards were struggling and I think that took a lot out of me.”
“Hartman can definitely do better than this just as he has done so in Singapore during the playoffs but it’s because Freeman limited him in the finals,” said coach Roring. “But despite that, I think my locals have been able to play well not just in this game but in the last few games too – and also not only Rony – Prihantono and Youbel all stepped up too.”
30-year-old Rony Gunawan completed a hat-trick of stellar performance in the ABL finals by finishing as the top scorer of his team in the third game with 20 points and seven rebounds. Rony was coach Roring’s MVP for this game, though the Indonesian coach picked Miller as his MVP for this season because of his all-round contribution throughout the season.
In the regular season, Miller topped the score boards in points per game, rebounds and blocks, and he was second in turnovers and third in steals.
“But I’m still pleased with my two imports on the whole,” coach Roring said. “It’s hard to play against Patriots who have three imports (counting Fil-Am Rob Wainwright). Dixon killed us, Freeman’s rebounds, Wainwright’s 3-pointers. It’s hard to beat a team with imports like that.”
In Jakarta, Patriots released a living demon in the frame of American Jason Dixon, who top-scored with his season high of 28 points and also set a new personal best this season with his 59.1 shooting percentage.
Patriots import, Gabriel Freeman, who has been the man to watch since joining the league late in the season, finished the final game with 17 points, though with a personal low in shooting percentage of 22%. The versatile forward however dominated the boards with 19 rebounds.
“When you have a big man like Dixon who’s so dominant, it takes the load off my shoulder,” said Freeman. “Because I won’t have to enforce myself as much, and when he’s down, I can enforce myself. It’s vice versa for both of us. We take the load off each other’s shoulder.”
“This game I played ok, I missed a lot of shots I would normally make,” said Freeman, who was limited to only six points in the first half. “I think I played my game in the second half, I went in a little bit more and was focused on the defense, I got going on the defense, that’s what I do.”
“My focus wasn’t really all out on Alex in this game,” Freeman added, “but at the same time, I’m a defensive player, so when I come into a game I’m going to be play defense but I still got to put points up. I think as a team we were more organised, we were more prepared. We were intense in the defense and the offense, we weren’t making a lot of shots but we were just up and that’s what won the game for us.”
25-year-old Freeman believed that being able to play with both the locals and with the fellow import is the difference an import has to make for his team. This he has done since coming on board to replaced Brandon Powell to rescue Patriots from a slump just before the playoffs.
Expounding on the difference he made for Patriots, Freeman said: “In a big way I did [make a difference] because Patriots have a big man, you have to play along with your big man and I personally don’t think the import that was previously here could do it.”
“When you’ve got a big guy, you play through your big guy,” Freeman said of the importance of the imports working with each other. “I’m not going to take shots away from him. I’m going to get him shots, I’m going to work around him, do everything around him. I’m going to make sure he touches the ball, I’m going to make sure I play defense for him.”
“And you know what, it’s really about how the imports play with the locals, whether they know how to play with their locals,” Freeman said in response to what would make a team successful in this league and especially to narrow the gap between the teams.
Likewise, Satria Muda’s Hartman also echoed that Miller replacing Theo Little in November 2009 was a spark for the Indonesians. But unlike Patriots, who have immediately expressed their interest to keep their imports, Satria Muda remain ambivalent.
“Based on the finals, I feel that it will be hard to defeat the Patriots with my current team,” said Satria Muda’s head coach Roring. “I will need more ‘bullets’, players who are sharp. There is still time to prepare work on this before the next season starts, so I will have to evaluate the current team before deciding whether to make changes to the team.”
Satria Muda’s top-scoring import Alex Hartman has revealed that he has a trial with the Boston Celtics coming up. In the meantime, he has rushed back to the United States as his grandfather is not well.
“Right now I’m just going to go home, rest, and do some training for the little kids while doing some of my own,” Hartman said, “I just got to get ready for the trials. We’ll see what happens. But now I’ve just got to take a break. Take three weeks off and just relax, get back my legs, no lifting, no shooting. We all need a break sometimes.”
No such dramas for Patriots’ Gabe Freeman though, who will start up with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in a fortnight’s time, and the question at the back of everyone’s mind is whether this ball of energy will return to the ABL next season.
Making a comparison between ABL and PBA, Freeman said: “The ABL is totally different because they actually play! It’s contact. PBA is touchy-touch, feely-feel, but ABL literally gets down and dirty, which is what most players like to play and that’s what keeps the game going. But it does get out of control sometimes but that’s part of basketball.”
“I would love to play in both leagues,” he said. “The ABL is amongst the best league I’ve played in judging from the talent level, and we won it, it feels good to be on top. It goes different on money level [between both leagues] but for me it’s not about the money, it’s about the basketball.”
When asked if he will consider playing for a different team in the ABL, Freeman said in front of his coach Louie Alas and team owner Mikee Romero: “I wouldn’t have a reason not to come back here. I’ve got a great coach, great players, my other import Jason Dixon is great.”
“They brought me in and they have done what they are supposed to do, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do,” Freeman continued and made known that beyond the basketball, integrity is just as important. “So I’m going no where, I’m here to stay. I’m loyal to who’s loyal to me.”
Gabe Freeman might have done a great job on Alex Hartman, limiting him to just 14 points, but Satria Muda’s Rony Gunawan was as lethal in limiting Freeman to just six points in the first half. (Photo 2 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Nakiea Miller drives to the basket for two late in the second quarter. Miller was poked in his eye midway through the first quarter by Jerwin Gaco while Satria Muda were leading. Although he came back to finish the match, the damage was done and he finished way below his season average, ending with only 13 points and seven boards. (Photo 3 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Jason Dixon dunks one home. His 28 points from 13-for-22 shooting greatly helped the Patriots to the first-ever ASEAN Basketball League title. (Photo 4 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Alex Hartman struggled throughout the match with Gabriel Freeman guarding him. Hartman scored 14 points but only had four rebounds and finished with four turnovers as well. (Photo 5 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Patriots captain Rob Wainwright lays up for two. He finished with nine points and two rebounds in a 24.50 minute performance. (Photo 6 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Rony Gunawan squeezes his way past the Patriots’ defense. He hit two treys close to the end of the match to give Satria Muda some hope of delaying the title celebrations, but it was not to be. (Photo 7 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Gabriel Freeman goes in for a steal on Amin Prihantono (Satria Muda, #7). He had a total of four steals to lead his side. Satria Muda’s IBL captain Prihantono scored nine points for his team. (Photo 8 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Satria Muda’s head coach Fictor Roring gave special mention to Amin Prihantono and Youbel Sondakh (Satria Muda, #9), along with top scorer Rony Gunawan, for their outstanding contribution in this game. (Photo 9 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
For the Philippine Patriots, local boys Elmer Espiritu, Silverino Baclao and Jerwin Gaco were instrumental in putting up a strong defense for the winning team. (Photo 10 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
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@jerby – Yeah I think Sinigang meant that Chris Tiu is Chinese by ethnicity (according to his ancestral roots) and most of my Filipino friends call themselves Filipino-Chinese (or Filipino-born-Chinese) too. Thanks for expounding on the topic with class!
As to so to speak “timing”, I for Red Hoops write about the league as an entirety and what comes out of the locker rooms, that’s what I’m most concerned about. As you know, fans of all teams are welcomed to submit their stories about their team
There are 2 match reports/analysis on this game already, a great pre-finals analysis by Louis, on top of 100s of comments discussing about how Patriots did it! There are endless things to write about after a C’hip but there is only so much/little time!
So my belief and priority is such that it’s not so much about writing what’s “logical” than it is of my job to write about what you don’t already know, as such the things players and coaches talk to Red Hoops about as we’ve gotten to know them first hand!
Hope this clarifies your concern : )
@3stars – You might like to know that we’ve been deleting attacks on you from other readers in reply to your comments. That is why my crew and I also had to delete some of your comments. If we just leave things as they are, the whole site goes down in flames.
So please, there is no deliberate, active anti-Pinoy, anti-Patriots bias. This is a perfectly fine post by Jan, with lots of direct quotes from Louie Alas and Fictor Roring, Freeman and Hartman. Yet, somehow, it can still be seen as biased. Why so sensitive and defensive, folks?
We just don’t have as much regular access to the Patriots simply because of where we are based (Singapore). I would love to have volunteer reporters and photographers in every ASEAN country filling in the blanks for all of us on Hoops but that will take time (3-4 years) to build.
It was great to have Jonathan Chuongco and Jahred Salazar writing stories for all of us to enjoy from Manila and Jakarta respectively. Hopefully we can get more stories from them and other interested fans in the seasons to come. We welcome one and all.
You send it, we post it!
I set up Red Hoops for the ABL, definitely not for Singapore basketball! There is not enough happening in Singapore basketball to justify a stand-alone site like this.
We do our bit for Singapore basketball in redsports.sg. (And please, nobody start accusing me of being anti-Singapore now! lol)
I agree with Irangels suggestion – I think leaving blood, heritage, nationalism aside is wise advice on his part. An innocuous, straightforward comment or quote about it somehow always triggers an outpouring of emotive comments. I shall from now on take his advice.
@Irangels – by the way, Marcus Ng parents are both Malaysian Chinese, as far as I understand. He filled the ASEAN heritage slot each team is allowed. Similar to Wainwright’s status in the team.
@3stars – Have you thought about, if you read less into the stories, you will feel less prejudiced because it’s really not about you
Red Hoops moderate/delete provocative comments to whoever because this is a discussion platform not an assassination battle field.
If anything, I hope it makes you feel better knowing the question posed to Freeman is by a Jakarta reporter at the press conference
For tough competition, PBA players can go in as imports for other teams – this is the whole idea of a regional club championship.
I think what you’ve said is a classic case of why ABL will never be esteemed! If the best and fans in the region are to continue to regard ABL as a 2nd-tier competition then the league becomes meaningless. Overkilling or not, it’s first and foremost about how the league is perceived by the fans and regional’s best.
And take European football for a somewhat similar comparison, if top teams/players from any of the domestic leagues (EPL, La Liga, Serie A) ever decides not to participate in/boycott the regional Champions League, then the entire league will suffer and whoever wins the title will be meaningless and will always be haunted by “But club XYZ from league XYZ didn’t compete what?”
That’s what I’m talking about!
jan and les ive been waiting to say this… relax
You know I got a random thought here. Just to get out of this topic that somewhat irritates the heck of everyone, and what I also think has nothing to do with basketball.
On November 2010 in Guangzhou, China is the 16th Asian Games (aka. 16th Asiad). As we all know it conflicts with the ABL schedule — October to February. I am pretty sure that Indonesia will send a team, most likely coached by Fictor Roring, in November. If that’s the case some of the players from Satria Muda won’t be available to play in the ABL on that time frame.
This is not to commit any form bias to other teams because over the past two stagings of FIBA-Asia Championships, it was Indonesia that represented SEABA along with Philippines. Thus, citing Indonesia as a good example.
Again please, no country, nationality, or any other BS with the comments. Just pure basketball and stick with our opinions on “what ABL will do with the Asian Games on the horizon?”
Is the ABL going to take a break during that time, which can extend the season all the way to March? Or, ignore it because it will loose TV-ratings and revenue; therefore, ABL players are not allowed to compete in the Asian Games? Or, let the teams recruit players to play only for the short-term?
With some friends on this site analysing my comments so deeply and taking offense at points so obviously made in self depreciating humour…I am actually upset that no one appreciated the comment made on bomohs for the Malaysian team. where are the malaysian writers? Mislan??
@lrangels – Not a big problem as Asian Games run for two weeks max so most probably either in view of that, ABL will have a schedule for team(s) affected that will be worked around those 1-2 weeks, or Satria Muda can simply request for their games during those 1-2 weeks to be postponed, which is possible like when there was a typhoon in Manila and the Patriots game was rescheduled a month later during the mid-season break in December.
OR, Indonesia have the option not to send. As early as i predict, the top 4 for this tournaments are
1.Philipines
2.China
3.Korea
4.? middleastern team
one countrys problem should not compromise the whole league, indonesia sent garuda in the last sea games and fiba asia why sould asian games be any different, if its true that garuda is the 2nd abl team in the league then they can get the 3rd best indonesian team or a selection of the best players of the remaining teams
i noticed something in the picture above, the one where freeman is going for the steal againts prihantono… it looks like..hes wearing a something under his patriots jersey shorts and it looks like his san miguel shorts.. or maybe not.. but he does have the same number from san miguel..what do you think guys?
Yes, Mislan, please get upset with Kelvin for attacking Malaysian teams. Give me something to delete backend.
@Jo parekoy, advice lang na pangkaibigan, isn’t it too ethnocentric that you placed the Philippines on top of your ranking? I mean, with Gilas there’s hope but It would have been more realistic if you placed the Phils at the 3rd or fourth spot on the ranking.I know that we have a big chance of winning the championship, but till that happens it would be best to keep these things to our selves.:) ASEAN readers might think that all Pinoy basketball fans are conceited and show offs. I am not like that. What we do here will greatly affect the perception of other countries on the Philippine’s.
To the others who post, can we be less confrontational on the issues raised here? Jesus, the 90s is so over, angst is passe. We can we discuss like educated mature people? Yeah,… chill is the operative word.
Love, peace and punkrock from Waray Nation Pilipinas!
Typo..Philippines..
One ASEAN!
Thanks for your input regarding the Asian Games. I think at this point in time, it would not be big issue. Let’s see what happens in three years when more teams participate making the season a little longer, and significant improvement on the number of local players and their level of play.
The reason why brought that up is because in years to come this can be an issue. This is basically an issue that occurs not only in professional basketball, but in other pro-sports as well. This issue has divided team owners regarding their players getting involved with their respective national team.
Certain examples include: NHL’s break in the middle of their season for some players to participate in the Winter Olympics, which the NHL instituted in 1998. Mark Cuban once expressed his concern over Dirk Nowitzki’s involvement with the German National Team. Phil Jackson’s concern on some of his players (Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol) participating in the Olympics due to fatigue from the long NBA season.
Overall, the reason behind it is that team owners’ concern should their key player gets injured while playing with their national team. Keep in mind that these players are in their pay-roll so it’s truly understood about their concern because at the end of day, we have to realize that this business.
When I said “Thanks for your input,” that’s towards 3stars, Jan, Jerby, and to all those who will posting their comments about the participation of certain players in international tournaments.
OR:-
1.Middleastern team
2.Korea
3.China
4.Philipines
Add Redhoops to this list of mediums that will greatly affect the perception of ASEAN people about Pinoys:
1. Biggest Loser Asia
2. Amazing Race Asia
@irangels.. i think its a lil different thou if its the whole team that will be playing for a tournament while a league is on going and not just 1 or 2 players from that team..
we have the same issue in the pba.. thats why they stopped sending pba players.. bec of the risk of injuries and competitiveness of their team once their star player plays for the national team..which also is the main reason we have gilas..
if its the sea games i think it will be a different story since all of the abl teams will field their players for sea games, that is the only time i think ABL should make adjustments on the schedule.
@lrangels – I think it will just be like football leagues when teams go for international break weekends and don’t play any league games.
In fact I see that it will be less complicated in ABL simply because the players are all in the same region and play in the same international competitions (minus non-ASEAN imports who are unlikely to hail from any national teams). Unlike say European football, within a club, there are players from different continents with different national commitments – and since country takes precedence over clubs and it upsets club owners/managers when a player has to fly back to country XYZ to fufil a national commitment.
So back to ABL, the pool of ASEAN talent (save for Pinoys) for this pro level of competition is not as wide yet and probably will remain so for the next decade or so. So one can expect every ABL team to be filled with all their local national players (the only exception being Patriots at the moment) – because that’s the point of the league – so should there be a national commitment, then the entire league would go for an international break and everyone are under the same risk to face the potential consequences you have raised.
As far as I’m aware, the national team captains of Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are all in ABL at the moment. The ABL is the first professional stint for majority of the local players which is why it is only natural that all the ASEAN national players will be playing in this league. So for a long time to come, I’d say only Indonesia and Philippines are capable of having more than 1 team participating in ABL and that’s because of their successful domestic leagues, but the ABL is at the moment discouraging that in view of compromising on the quality of the league. Less is more sometimes
Just a what if question, is it possible for the ABL to do away with the ASEAN imports, and instead categorize all locals as ASEAN players. That means Philippine players can play for SMB, Indonesians can play for Patriots..so on and so forth.. Maybe we can now have an all ASEAN season.. and eventually pare down the non ASEAN imports to just one..
1ASEAN!:)
@jerby..filipinos are already playing for other teams and indonesians or any other asean players can also play for patriots, we just dont get one for an obvious reason.
we can categorize all asean players as locals but whatever we do journalist and sports columnist will still categorize who are the real locals from asean imports.. just like in intl comp. even if a player is already naturalized and can be called a local “legally” they still indicate that he is naturalized.
@jerby – It’s a good idea but definitely not time for it, the league is not mature/ready enough to cope with how it’d backfire on the fundamental mission of the league. And that’s right what 3stars said – wow we are actually agreeing! LOL.
At least not until when there is a equi-basketball culture in all ASEAN countries to put them on slightly more equal grounds with say Philippines and Indonesia in terms of the talent pool they have.
Otherwise for the sake of the competition, without a cap of “ASEAN imports” to force teams to give room for locals to clock minutes and grow from this ABL experience, there is no reason for teams to not just mass grab from the talent pools in Philippines and Indonesia.
In the end, countries have to use ABL to learn what Philippines and Indonesia are doing right internally in nurturing their own pool of talent first, and when that happens, then ABL is more mature to do away with the “cap” or even the idea of “imports” to begin with.
It’s just like when I watch an English Premier League game now, it doesn’t scream in your face that Spanish players are “imports” playing in England, it has become so diluted that people just take it for granted that that’s how it works – everyone’s just a footballer.
@mart – I’m not familiar with what’s happening on Biggest Loser Asia and Amazing Race Asia. Can you fill me in?
@Les, Mart – Hah! That depends on which season Mart is referring to – the Pinoys nearly won last season’s Amazing Race! They finished in second place
But season two was a nightmare for the Pinoys racers.
@3stars nope, it’s not the san miguel shorts. their real numbers have a different font.
if you get to watch game 2 of the PBA Finals, you’d understand why Freeman likes the ABL better. PBA refs are whistle-happy. the slightest contact is already a foul. it works two ways, players are protected even from necessary roughness as we’ve seen PBA players almost get killed by other players fouling them; and it also gives bench players more minutes since most PBA teams are 10-man deep.
not that the ABL games promote dirty play (and i’m sure there are still people who don’t know the difference between that and being physical), but physical players like Freeman prefer a more free-flowing game with lesser stoppages.
Sinigang Tampines <– alaska fan..hehe.. peace!
@3stars. Mosi Tatupu basically played for the New England Patriots of the NFL, not the Philippine Patriots. So it’s a different kind of Patriots.
As far as I know, there are three teams that carry the name Patriots — need to do more research on this should there be more. Namely: George Mason University Patriots (NCAA) (GO MASON!), New England Patriots (NFL), and the Philippine Patriots (ABL).
additional “patriots” teams,
De La Salle University – Dasmarinas Patriots (UCAA & NCRAA)
Nueva Ecija Patriots (defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association)
@irangels.. i know..its suppose to be a joke..
@tabinge..i am from dlsu-d
.. i also played for STRAA in palawan for cavite patriots(coincidentaly with the same black/red color uniform).. year 2000.. that means i played for 2 patriots team.
@3stars. I have to admit, you punked me really good with your joke. I have to hand that to you. Wow! I didn’t know that we got a Patriot in the house.
I, on the other hand, went to George Mason University. Unlike you, I didn’t play for the (other) Patriots.
@tabinge. Thanks for providing additional info on other Patriots teams.
@irangels..is that the same george university where norwood played??
@3star. Yes, that’s correct.
@Everybody,
Ok since it seems like whatever efforts put in to steer away from the unwarranted topic – and which has no relevance to this story – has been futile I’m going to close this thread of discussion for now.
I wholeheartedly appreciate the efforts of readers like lrangels and jerby to steer everyone towards a meaningful discussion though. I too thank all those who liked this story and engaged in good discussion.
For the record, to be fair to both Rob and coach Fictor, who are both incredibly nice people, I’ll just make it clear that coach Alas mentioned Rob is born in the Philippines. He has been playing in the PBA for years and is right now really hoping to be drafted back into PBA but he has yet to get called up.
Unlike Singapore and Malaysia law, Philippines law permits the possession of dual-citizenship so it is not in any of our position to contest this, or is there any point to do so. If you want a Singapore or Malaysia citizenship, you MUST give up whatever citizenship you hold at birth and vice versa.
Foreign athletes typically represent Singapore under the Permanent Residency status, which suffices for them to compete for Singapore. It is a complex issue as to why Singapore can’t afford to pass the dual-citizenship law, but in essence, it will further encourage Singaporeans to migrate overseas (ala the “brain drain syndrome”) of which a human resource-dependent country like Singapore can’t afford.
In the end, “import” or “local” has been a term rather loosely used by especially ABL players and coaches to categorise the ability ala physique of a player (which of course Rob had genetically inherited from his American parent and that’s just the way it is) – it is in no way suggestive of a complain or an insult so why do we even start it?
This story was focused on highlighting the contest between Miller-Hartman and Freeman-Dixon in the finals, since the hot topic at the post-C’hip press conference was whether the coaches will keep the four of them in the league, and the coaches and players responding to such a position. It’s regrettable the discussion departed from this.
Cheers all.