After five months and 53 games of the maiden ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season, the league is clearly still imperfect in many ways, but in the end, what mattered most was that ASEAN basketballers proved to be a delight to watch.

Many ASEAN basketball fans have grown up living and breathing the NBA (National Basketball Association) but not many would know that the NBA’s success did not happen overnight and in fact the world’s most popular basketball league was bereft of attention in its first decade.

Yet through the NBA came the invention of the 24-second shot clock that not only breathed life into the league, it revolutionised the entire game altogether. So it is with ABL, it may be uncertain now what changes this league could bring but the signs are already promising.

“Through this ABL, my local players have improved a lot,” said KL Dragons head coach Goh Cheng Huat. “In fact all the local players from Indonesia and Singapore have stepped up. The way I look at it, some of them have caught up with the standard of the Filipino imports.”

Unbeknownst to many, unlike the imports, most local cagers face the challenge of juggling this professional basketball gig and their long-term marketplace career. Currently amongst the local cagers, there are teachers, engineers, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Brunei Barracudas’ top local player, 25-year-old Esmond Tan, who is an engineer with Shell, said: “Coach Ramos has tried to adjust the trainings for me in the morning and in the evening when I can join the team for trainings. I’m proud of the local players, I kept telling my local players to be ready and we will get the chance to play. We have been improving.”

Filipino coach Bong Ramos, who has extensive coaching experience across ASEAN (in Philippines, Indonesia and now Brunei), echoed coach Goh’s sentiments, he said: “Filipinos have the advantage against any of the ASEAN locals but, because of ABL I think the locals of all Southeast Asian nations will improve because this is a good league for the locals.”

“Except the Filipinos, ABL is the first professional stint for many locals,” coach Ramos added, “but to narrow the gap [between Philippines and the rest of ASEAN] is not only this league, it’s also the training and having a college league like Philippines’ NCAA/UAAP is important.”

A key indicator of the league’s maiden success was how it has managed to attract the top ASEAN coaches. Besides coach Ramos and coach Goh, who are both highly regarded in Philippines and Malaysia respectively, the coaches of the finalists – Fictor Roring of Satria Muda and Louie Alas of Philippine Patriots – are both household names as well.

Coach Alas gave a tongue-in-cheek sharing on why he joined the ABL, he said: “I was coaching Toyota Altis in the Philippine Basketball League while Mikee (Patriots owner) is the owner of Harbour Centre. We fought them twice in the PBL Championship and we lost both times. That’s why when Mikee called me to coach the Patriots, I agreed right away because there is a saying, ‘If you can’t beat them, you join them!’”

Patriots went on to assert their dominance in the league to lift the inaugural title with a 5-0 playoff run, sweeping the KL Dragons 2-0 in the semi-finals and Satria Muda 3-0 in the finals. During the regular season, Patriots beat every team in head-to-head match-ups except the Slingers, which was the only team with a non-ASEAN marshal.

Slingers’ head coach Frank Arsego, who has announced he will not be returning next season so as to spend more time with his family in Canberra, gave his two cents on how local players can be successful through the ABL.

“Listen to your coaches, learn from your coaches, try to be in an environment where you can learn your skills in competition. The players who make it, are the ones who do the extra work outside of their normal environment, they are the ones who go on to be successful,” he said.

To raise their game, the Australian coach shared how the local players have to work extremely hard to be corrected in their techniques and be grounded in high quality fundamentals to execute them under pressure.

Coach Frank shared: “We work very hard during practice to stimulate an environment where there is a lot of pressure where their decision-making under pressure will improve as they go along, and that’s what the good players can do. We’ve got local guys in Slingers, who just through their work ethics have deserved the opportunity to be with the Slingers and because of that, they are going to become better basketballers.”

While many did step up for their teams over the season, Jan has picked the top two locals who have been a surprise ‘spark’ for their team in the 09/10 ABL season and the six local young guns to look out for in the next season. Enjoy!

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Playoff and Finals): Rony Gunawan (Satria Muda)

Rony Gunawan was the local name that stood out in the ABL finals between Satria Muda and the Philippine Patriots. While the four American imports were engrossed in a battle of attrition, the Indonesian center completely outclassed the other locals in the finals.

With both Hartman and Miller pinned down by the Patriots’ tough defense, Rony rose from the rubble to finish the game one with 10 points, eight rebounds (55.6% shooting percentage), the second game with 15 points, seven rebounds (58.3% shooting percentage), and top-scored in the final game with 20 points, seven rebounds (72.7% shooting percentage).

Rony’s finals performance epitomised how it is possible for locals to shine and make a statement for themselves amidst the import-driven league.

“Coach gave me a lot minutes to play so I just played and gave my all,” said Rony reflecting on his stunning finals showing that had breathed hope into his team. “I trusted myself and my team mates, and I’ve got nothing to lose because the pressure was not on my team.”

“I think the skills of the local players are not so far from the imports,” said Rony who also shared he looks up to NBA’s Tim Duncan. “Maybe we lose out in size and the strength, but actually we can compete with the imports if we trust ourselves and not fear them.”

“Local players can do more!” said Rony on a concluding note. “They mostly face the problem of confidence and are a bit afraid to play when there is hard, body contact with the imports. But I think the more often they play in this league, they will get used to that, and get better.”

ABL 09/10 Top Local ‘Spark’ (Regular Season): Attaporn Lertmalaiporn (Thailand Tigers)

If numbers do not lie, then without a doubt, Bangkok-born Attaporn Lertmalaiporn is not only Thailand’s best kept secret, his 223 points (14.9 points per game) score card meant that he was the top-scoring local player and not at all inferior to an American import.

Besides being a menacing scoring machine, the left-handed Attaporn was also a natural entertainer with his unorthodox style of play.

“I feel that the way I play has to do with my personality,” said Attaporn who is also pursuing a Masters degree in Physical Education in Thailand concurrently. “I’m a fun-loving person and I feel that my style of basketball has to be enjoyable and entertaining to the spectators.”

“I’ve been playing basketball for 12 years but this is my first time playing in a professional league,” added the 1.93m tall Attaporn. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I’ve learnt a lot from the imports and I feel that having them around, my game has improved a lot.”

And finally, the top local young gun of each team to look out for in the next season:

Brunei Barracudas: Esmond Tan

KL Dragons: Loh Shee Fai

Nonoy Baclao (Philippine Patriots)

Christian Ronaldo Sitepu (Satria Muda)

Hong Wei Jian (Singapore Slingers)

Ratdech Kruatiwa (Thailand Tigers)

Editor’s Note: This has been a maiden season of surprises and here’s a shout of thanks to Leslie and Dawn for the opportunity to cover this league; the REDcrew for working so hard under my Cruella-complex; the ABL coaches who taught me heaps about the game; the ABL players for tolerating my endless questions; and the readers for your love-hate relationship with my stories. Enjoy the other stories coming up, til we next “meet”. (jan@redhoops.com)

Kuhan Foo, the chief executive officer of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), has revealed that the league will know by April the status of new teams coming on board for the 2010/11 season. He also pointed out that for the existing teams to survive, teams will need to learn to market themselves well.

“The challenge I think is getting teams to market themselves and finding the major support, sponsors, pulling in more crowd and creating a basketball culture,” shared Kuhan at the post-finals press conference.

“We know it is possible,” Kuhan added, “if we look at KL Dragons for example in Malaysia where the crowd is usually Chinese and men, but now their crowd has 40% Malays, 30% women because of the ABL.”

Four of the six ABL teams in the inaugural season are new teams set up in conjunction with the inception of the ABL. Only Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma and the Singapore Slingers are existing professional teams with the experience of engaging the community.

It has indeed proven to be a challenge for the new teams to fill the stadiums on game day. Thailand Tigers and Philippine Patriots gave free entry to their home games in a bid to draw in the crowds and drum up the support in their first season.

While the Thailand Tigers, who finished at the bottom of the table in the inaugural season, struggled to bring in the home crowd all season, the Patriots crowd picked up significantly towards the playoffs and finals.

The KL Dragons, singled out by Kuhan as the role model for having done an exceptional job in expanding and diversifying their fan base in their maiden season, credited their fans and media partners for their success.

“I don’t think other teams can do so because they don’t have Malaysian blood in them!” the KL Dragons owners said jokingly when asked how they managed to pack their stadium to the point of having to turn away spectators.

Turning serious, they continued: “I think to be fair, this game, except for Philippines, is quite new to other countries, including Malaysia. I think if you look at any leagues when they have just started, even the NBA, the English Premier League, the crowds were not there either.”

“It takes time to develop these things,” they added. “Give it time to slowly grow, it’s about creating the awareness. It has a lot to do with our media partners as well, we need to say a big thank you to them.”

Besides a massive revamp of their dynamic website mid-season and heavy utilisation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the Kuala Lumpur-based team also organised road trips for their fans to Singapore for their away games.

Indonesia’s Satria Muda is the only other team that had fans travel to an away game. Satria Muda, who have the most number of fans of all the ABL teams, have been actively building their fan base since the team joined the Indonesian Basketball League in 2003. Satria Muda have won four domestic titles since, plus the SEABA Champions Cup in 2008.

Philippine Patriots owner, Mikee Romero, who also owns the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) team, Harbour Center, the team that Satria Muda beat in the 2008 SEABA Champions Cup final, said after the ABL finals: “When we (Harbour Center) played against Satria Muda two years ago, it was a very different team. The level of Indonesian basketball has become higher.”

While the team’s success and progress will be a crowd puller, according to Kuhan, what is essentially more important is the building of a basketball culture, or a culture of identifying ABL as ASEAN’s pride.

While the Philippines have built an unrivaled basketball culture, elsewhere in ASEAN, Malaysians and Indonesians would not find local sporting pride unfamiliar too, with their history of having homegrown athletes claiming top honours at international competitions such as the Olympics.

But for the rest of ASEAN, building a strong fan base that would attract sponsors and support to ensure the sustainability and survivability of the team does seem like a mountain-moving task. The teams taking ownership of the ABL dream is the instrumental first step.

“This finals is the fruit of the ABL dream,” shared Mikee Romero at the post-finals press conference in Jakarta. “It is a common dream of Tony Fernandes and his friends (who became the owners of the six teams). There are a lot of people backing this.”

“And one day, we will grow into Asia and this league will become a big, big league,” Romero continued in zest, “and maybe even rival the NBA (National Basketball Association) or CBL (China Basketball League). Watch out for this league.”

With the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals days away, Red Hoops reader Jonathan Chuongco gives his review of those who have stood out for him during the regular ABL season.

Best Player of the Regular Season: Nakiea Miller

Brought in to replace the ineffective Theophilus Little, Satria Muda have chosen the right guy. Not only can Miller score, but he can crash the boards as well, averaging a monstrous 20.7 points a game and 16.4 boards. Where Miller goes, Satria Muda go as well.

Most surprising win of the Regular Season: Thailand Tigers at Singapore Slingers (Dec 7)

The win was surprising because the Slingers were leading the ABL standings at the time, while the Tigers were anchored at the bottom. The Slingers actually held the lead at the end of the first quarter but things turned around during the second and the Tigers never looked back, getting the most surprising win of the ABL season.

Best Comeback of the Regular Season: KL Dragons

Hats off to the KL Dragons for not giving up and winning three straight crucial games against the Philippine Patriots, Singapore Slingers and Satria Muda BritAma, the top three teams in the ABL. Because of that, lady luck rewarded the Dragons, and they took the final playoff spot at the expense of the Brunei Barracudas.

Best Defensive Team of the Regular Season: Philippine Patriots

The Patriots held their opponents to 68.2 PPG (points per game) and held opponents to 37.6% shooting and 28.7% 3-point shooting to rank 1st, 1st and 2nd respectively in the three categories. It is a no-brainer that the best defensive team award should be given to the Patriots for it is a big reason why they led the ABL in the regular season.

Best Offensive Team/s of the Regular Season: Singapore Slingers and Brunei Barracudas

These two teams are very efficient at scoring. The Brunei Barracudas led the league in terms of scoring production with 78.9 PPG compared to the 75.5 PPG of the Slingers, but the Slingers shot slightly better than the ‘Cudas with 43.5% to 42.4%.

Only these two teams shot better than 40% for the season, and since their offensive production are very similar, both teams deserve to be given the best offensive team awards.

Best Crowd Support: KL Dragons fans

They were rowdy, loud and proud and filled the MABA Stadium when the Dragons played. No questions asked, the Dragons fans are the best in the ABL right now in terms of supporting the home team.

Editor’s Note: Have an entirely different opinion? If you would also like to share your review with the other Red Hoops readers, send your story to jan@redhoops.com

Maba Stadium, Wednesday, February 3, 2010 – The KL Dragons redeemed themselves with a battling performance in front of their own fans but they finally went down 65-70 in the end to the visiting Philippines Patriots.

The Patriots advance to the finals of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) after winning the best-of-three series 2-0.

Patriots center Jason Dixon was simply unstoppable especially at crunch time, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds to spearhead his side into the finals. His import counterpart Gabe Freeman had a poor shooting night by his lofty standards but still finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, proving his all-around worth to this formidable Patriots squad.

The Dragons were clearly a different team from the one that was embarrassed by the Patriots just three days earlier and came out intent on proving the critics that they did indeed belong in the playoffs.

In particular, their import Chris Kuete, who had been a no-show in game one came out a different player, scoring 10 points en route to helping his side to a 40-32 lead at half-time.

Kuete, who was much maligned in the first game, earned a mark of redemption with a handy double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds but more importantly played some solid defense on Freeman to limit the American’s effectiveness.

He was helped by local boy Loh Shee Fai who has used the ABL to great effect to establish himself as a legitimate 3-point shooter, finishing with 12 points as the Dragons’ third highest scorer on the night.

In fact the half-time deficit could have been a lot grimmer for the Patriots at the interval had they not gone on a slight mini-revival late in the half hitting three consecutive 3-pointers from Wainwright, Alcaraz and Ybanez to make the deficit a manageable one.

The Patriots were a different side in the third quarter as they tightened down on the defensive end with Jerwin Gaco providing a spark on both ends and playing with his usual brand of gritty, hard-nosed interior defending, earning a chorus of boos from the partisan home crowd.

Gaco’s six points in the third quarter helped his side narrow their deficit heading into the fourth quarter, at which point his teammates took over, opening the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point lead.

The Dragons fought back hard to tie the game at 63-63 but then Dixon simply took over with his vast array of inside moves, scoring his team’s final seven points, in the process fouling out his opposing center Jamal Brown and carrying his team past the finish line.

The Dragons can hold their head up high with this spirited performance and giving the favourites everything they could handle. After an improbable late season run that carried them into the playoffs, their season has now come to an end.

As for the Patriots, they now head back to the Philippines and await the winner of the Slingers-Satria Muda series which is locked at 1-1 and will see a third and deciding game on Sunday, February 7th, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Quarter-by-Quarter Scores
Dragons v Patriots
1st Q: 22-13
2nd Q: 18-19
3rd Q: 15-18
4th Q: 10-20

KL Dragons Game Box Score

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

Ynares Sports Arena, Manila, Sunday, January 31, 2010 – The top-seeded Philippine Patriots destroyed the KL Dragons 77-43 with some suffocating defense for their first win of the best-of-three semi-final playoff in the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

The Dragons had beaten the Patriots earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur and if the Malaysian side had any thoughts of repeating that upset, such thoughts were very quickly erased as the Patriots stormed out of the gates and raced away to a double-digit lead within a few minutes of tip-off.

It was a stroll in the park for the Patriots and coach Louie Alas even had the luxury of resting American imports Jason Dixon and Gabriel Freeman for the majority of the fourth quarter.

The late addition of Freeman into their lineup for the last two games of the regular season has transformed the Patriots and he again stepped up with a third consecutive double-double, shooting 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

From the very outset, the Patriots controlled the tempo of the game and the only thing keeping the Dragons in the game was the poor 3-point shooting of the home team in the first half.

Exclusively utilizing a zone defence, the Dragons were content to allow their opponents to bomb away from outside and had the Patriots been more clinical from beyond the arc, their halftime lead would have been more impressive than the 30-16 scoreline suggested.

At the other end though, the Dragons simply had no answer for the tough defense being played by their hosts and their meager halftime output of 16 points was a statement of intent for the stifling man-to-man defense that has become a trademark of Alas’ teams in the Philippines.

There was no let-up for the Patriots in the second half as they came out firing on all cylinders with Dixon capitalizing on a bizarre decision by KL coach Goh Cheng Huat to rest both his imports for the entire second half.

Without Jamal Brown in the center, Dixon wreaked havoc on the feeble interior defense of the Dragons, scoring nine points in five minutes of play and increasing the lead to 23 points for his side.

Dixon would eventually finish with 13 points and 10 rebounds, joining his compatriot Freeman in the double-double category and by the time the bench was cleared for them, the match was well and truly dusted with thoughts now turning to game 2 of the series.

A measure of this Patriots side has always been their strength in depth and it was apparent again in this game as the Patriots received balanced scoring from their bench, headed by Val Acuna with 12 points while the Dragons received little support from theirs.

Both teams will have their adjustments to make but judging by the ease with which the Patriots were able to win, it is the Dragons that have their work cut out for them and coach Goh will have three days to figure out not only a way to stop the balanced Patriots attack but also where side’s offense will come from.

The Dragons got virtually nothing from their top trio of Chris Kuete, Jamal Brown and Rudy Lingganay. Lingganay did reach double digits with 10 points to top-score for his side but his points came very late on with the outcome of the match a mere formality at that point. For Kuete and Brown, it was a tough night as they scored four and seven points respectively, a tribute to the defense being played on them by the Patriots duo of Freeman and Dixon.

Game 2 will now be played in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday night with the Dragons hoping for home comfort while the Patriots will look to close the series out.

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

KL Dragons Game Box Score

The Thailand Tigers and Brunei Barracudas may not have made it to the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) playoffs but as the only two teams that have had experienced firsthand the prowess of Philippine Patriots latest American addition Gabriel Freeman, they know best what he is made of.

The Patriots had brought in Freeman to replace Brandon Powell to pull the team out of a sudden slump. The new American import got down to business promptly to emerge as the Patriots’ top scorer and hitting a double-double in both games to seal for his team two crucial victories.

In his maiden game against the Thailand Tigers a fortnight ago, whom the Patriots beat 91-87, Freeman scored 21 points and 14 rebounds in the 30:47 minutes on court. Freeman then had 17 points and 18 rebounds to his name a week later against the Brunei Barracudas.

The 25-year-old Freeman had played for the San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and led his team to the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference Finals where they defeated Barangay Ginebra Kings to take the title. Freeman was named the Best Import of the Conference.

“It’s hard to catch up with Freeman,” said Tigers Filipino coach Soonthornpong Mawinthorn. “His individual ability is really great. He can shoot from three, he can drive in and he can defend too. He’s a complete player. The consistency of Freeman is really something, and he can dominate the board. Watch out for Freeman!”

Mawinthorn picked the Philippine Patriots and the Singapore Slingers to meet in the ABL finals but remained undecided which team would lift the inaugural title. He said: “The Slingers will win in terms of team work but the Patriots have better imports and players.”

While the Patriots will host the fourth-placed KL Dragons in the first playoff today, the Slingers will play Indonesia’s Satria Muda. Both hosts hold a 2-1 winning record over the visiting teams in the regular season. Of the four teams, the KL Dragons are the only ones coming off three consecutive wins.

Slingers coach Frank Arsego is cautious in his assessment of Satria Muda. He shared: “They are a very good team. We’ve had pretty good performances against them. We played a super game at home against them which was probably our best performance in the season. So that can give us some confidence.”

The Slingers thrashed Satria Muda 96-62 on November 1st, 2009, in Singapore but they needed lady luck to smile on them in Jakarta two weeks later to steal the game from the hosts 61-59 in the dying seconds of the game. The hosts had led the Slingers for 39:36 minutes.

“We’ve come from behind to beat them in an away game and the third game we didn’t play well and they played well so I think it’s pretty even,” Arsego said.

The Slingers were eventually outplayed 67-58 in their third and final game against the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) champions on December 12, 2009, in Jakarta.

“But if people look at the four teams remaining historically,” Arsego added, “you would rank the Slingers as the fourth seed even though we are in second place. In most match ups, people will consider us as the underdogs but we believe that we deserve to be where we are.”

“We’ve worked hard, extremely hard this year. I think we can be quietly confident but it is still a three-game series. We can’t think too far ahead of ourselves. We want to be in the best position as we can be for our first game,” Arsego concluded with much optimism in his voice.

The first playoff between second-placed Singapore Slingers and third-placed Satria Muda will be played today at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, while league leaders Philippine Patriots will host KL Dragons at the Ynares Sports Arena. Both games will tipoff at 4pm (UTC/GMT +8).

The BritAma Arena, Jakarta, Saturday, January 23, 2010 – After three attempts, the KL Dragons (KLD) of Malaysia were finally able to beat Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma (SMB) 70-67 in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).

It was an important win for the Dragons as they climbed to the fourth and final play-off spot, ahead of the Brunei Barracudas, in the league standings.

The starters for SMB were Nakiea Miller, Alex Hartman, Youbel Sondakh, Christian Sitepu and Mario Wuysang, while KLD started with Jamal Brown, Chris Kuete, Rudy Lingganay, Fhadzmir Bandaying and John Ng.

Throughout the game, the imports figured in several one-on-one matchups. Jamal Brown was up against Nakiea Miller while Chris Kuete faced Alex Hartman. Brown and Miller got entangled several times at the low-post and with the taller Miller getting the better of Brown, the latter changed his strategy and started hoisting up three-pointers, but with only 33% of success.

Miller continued to have his way until the Dragons started to double-team him. Hartman and Kuete also ended up guarding each other, and although Kuete was out-scored by Hartman, Kuete quietly delivered impressive numbers, shooting almost 65% with three assists and four steals.

The most exciting periods of the game were during the last five minutes of the first quarter, and the last six minutes of the fourth. The first quarter saw SMB leading throughout, taking advantage while the Dragons were still adjusting and trying to figure out their way around.

Things started to turn around when Guganeswaran Batumalai of KLD made two free throws, which were his only points of the game, with 2:37 remaining in the quarter.

From then on, the Dragons were pretty much in control of the game until the last six minutes of the game when Hartman hit a three-point shot to tie the game at 60, and exciting the home crowd. Brown then answered with his fourth three-pointer of the night and Lingganay made a difficult lay-up in traffic to extend the lead to five at 65-60.

Both teams then couldn’t buy a bucket for almost two minutes until Miller split his free throws, and scored another two points after the shot clock expired on the Dragons possession to cut the Dragon lead to two points.

Another split at the charity stripe by Miller inched them closer by one point, but Lingganay hit a fall-away jumper from around 16 feet near the free-throw line to again extend the lead to three points. But another three-point bomb by Hartman in the following possession tied the game at 67, leading to loud cheers erupting from the home crowd.

After a Dragon timeout, SMB employed a full-court man-to-man pressure defense which resulted in a steal by Amin Prihantono, but he could not hold on to the ball and committed a travelling violation that led to Guganeswaran setting up Loh Shee Fai for a three-point shot with 53 seconds left.

Like a fairytale script, Loh’s only three-pointer of the game turned out to be the game-winning shot after neither team could make a shot in the final minute though Miller did miss a crucial dying seconds shot.

The game could have been won and lost at the free throw line. Although the Dragons only went to the line 11 times, they converted 10 of those into points, while SMB shot 24 free throws but made only 14, a 58% conversion rate.

Before tip-off, Dragons’ coach Goh Cheng Huat emphasized that they needed to concentrate on their defense if they wanted to win the game.

“I’m relieved, but I was not looking beyond this game and was not thinking about the playoffs before the game”, coach Goh remarked after the game.

He added: “If we don’t make it to the playoffs, we can’t blame the other teams’ results, it is also our fault that we didn’t win enough games (to secure a place in the playoffs).”

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

KL Dragons Game Box Score

With the Philippine Patriots, Satria Muda and Singapore Slingers securing their playoff spots, the battle for the last playoff ticket between the Brunei Barracudas and KL Dragons has hogged the ABL limelight and will continue to do so should the Brunei Barracudas lose to the Singapore Slingers today.

“If the Barracudas beat Slingers, it’s over for us,” said KL Dragons head coach Goh Cheng Huat. “If Slingers are committed and the coach wants to go all out like what they’ve done against us, I think the Slingers stand a good chance to win the game.”

“Brunei doesn’t have the depth,” coach Goh said matter-of-factly. “If Slingers go full-court press, and if they just can keep pushing them above half-court then Brunei will definitely be in trouble with Slingers’ tough defense and aggressive play.”

Despite having arguably the most valuable ASEAN imports, the Barracudas have struggled with depth all season playing with a 6 or 7-man rotation only.

“Brunei’s point guard may be fit but he won’t last all 4 periods on his own,” said coach Goh, “but if Slingers allow Barracudas to come in and mess up, then they will be disadvantaged because Barracudas have Camaso and all the tall guys so they can easily take one-on-one.”

He continued: “But if Slingers can push them high, let them use the clock then set-up the offense, when Barracudas are late, they will mess up their offense and Slingers will keep the advantage this way.”

That said, Slingers will be coming off a sour away defeat against the Dragons, who had outclassed them 78-71 last weekend.

“Against us, they played all out but the game wasn’t in their hands – they were missing all the shots which was costly,” said coach Goh.

Although the Slingers had recovered from a mid-season slump to secure back-to-back home victories over the Patriots and Dragons in a week, they had no answer to the Dragons’ fiery home display a week later.

“This game was almost the same with the one in Singapore last week except it went the other way,” shared coach Goh. “Michael LeBlanc was hitting all the three-points in Singapore that cost us. When a team starts hitting all the outside shots, there’s not much we can do.”

The Dragons attempted twice as many threes as the Slingers did in Kuala Lumpur. The three-pointers contributed to 42% of the hosts’ total score while the Slingers had only 15% from three-point range. Dragons’ 21-year-old top scorer Loh Shee Fai had four treys to his name and finished with 17 points.

Coach Goh shared: “With these threes, I would attribute it to home court advantage. But Shee Fai is a real shooter. He was the top 3-point shooter at last year’s MIBC (Malaysian International Basketball Championship) – hitting the threes has always been his strength.”

Besides exploiting Shee Fai’s strength, coach Goh also unleashed his secret weapon in John Ng, who may have scored only four points all season long but was selected to start for the home team last weekend.

“I started John Ng because he has been defending LeBlanc previously in our local basketball league so I wanted to see how John would tackle him and John could also shoot from outside so it’s good to start him,” revealed coach Goh.

The gamble turned into a master stroke when Slingers top scoring machine Michael LeBlanc was confined to a miserable three points with only two field goals at half-time.

“My other options were Hugnatan or Li Wei or maybe Way Tek,” coach Goh added, “but they are not as consistent nor as experienced. So I gave John a shot and he had a great game.”

Despite the seething pressure piling on the Dragons to perform at home following the surprise Barracudas victory over Satria Muda the day before, coach Goh conceded that the pressure to perform was more for the sake of the Dragons’ die-hards than for the playoffs.

“Actually after we lost the game to Slingers in Singapore, we know that our chances to the playoffs was very slim and we can’t do anything much but because of our fans, we need to perform in the last two games and hopefully win it at home for our fans,” said coach Goh.

The Dragons’ den in Kuala Lumpur’s MABA stadium registered a full-house attendance on what could have been the day of their final home game. The support was so overwhelming that late-arriving fans had to be turned away as the stadium reached its maximum capacity.

“I told my players not to think of the playoffs but of course I can’t prevent them from thinking,” coach Goh said, “but I told them the more you think of the playoffs the more disappointed you are. We have done our part and we didn’t win when we needed to, we can’t blame anyone.”

So the odds may be against them, but all is not yet lost for the Dragons. If Barracudas were to suffer back-to-back defeats against the Slingers and league leaders Patriots, and if the Malaysian side then beat Satria Muda in Jakarta this Saturday, the Dragons will qualify.

“First, Slingers will have to do their job and we will do ours. We will need Slingers to do us a favour!” coach Goh concluded with a hearty laugh.

MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Sunday, January 17, 2010 – The KL Dragons went local, and then went loco – Spanish for crazy – from three-point range, as they made 10 treys in beating the Singapore Slingers 78-71 to stay alive in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) playoff hunt.

Loh Shee Fai kept up his hot shooting against the Slingers and led the Dragons with 17 points on six of seven shooting. Little-used forward John Ng, who scored only four points all season long, added 12 and Guganeswaran Batumalai chipped in with 11, as the local-born players contributed 48 of the team’s points.

Michael LeBlanc overcame a slow start to lead the Slingers with 19 points, and Kyle Jeffers added 17 points and 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season, but the team had scant reply for their opponent’s red-hot shooting.

An 8-0 Slinger run capped by Al Vergara’s baseline jumper gave the visitors a 16-8 lead with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter, but 10 straight points by the Dragons swung the momentum firmly in their favour. John scored five points and Shee Fai added a trey to the delight of the capacity 2000-strong crowd in the MABA Stadium, which was packed to the brim and had to turn more supporters away.

The home fans had more to cheer for in this final home game for the Dragons. The team led 24-18 after the first period and shot above 50% from the field in the second, as they nearly tripled that first quarter advantage after John’s dribble and lay up past a static Pathman Matialakan gave the Dragons a 17-point, 42-25 lead.

John was doing it at the other end of the floor as well, keeping LeBlanc, the Slingers’ leading scorer at 18.5 points a game, in check with three points on only two shots at the half, which the Dragons led 44-31.

Chris Kuete, who is also leading the Dragons in scoring with 18.5 points a game, was having as ineffectual a game as LeBlanc at that stage, missing all six of his shots. Both finally came to life in the third quarter, but the difference was that the Cameroonian had help from his teammates.

LeBlanc had six of the Slingers’ first nine third-quarter points, but Kuete scored nine straight for the Dragons, who kept up their high shooting percentage from the field. The lively Guga, who had a massive game with 11 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals, became the sixth Dragon to make his mark from downtown, and John then capped the 15-9 run with another long-range dagger to extend their lead to 19, the largest of the game.

The Dragons finished the third period with nine three pointers on 18 attempts, and on pace to threaten the ABL single-game record of 14 three-pointers. They led 66-49 after half an hour, but cooled off considerably in the final quarter as the Slingers fought to make a game of it.

They impressively restricted the Dragons to a measly one field goal in the final period, and closed to within 11 after Vergara found Marcus with one of his season-high tying eight assists to make it 67-56, but Shee Fai scored that field goal – appropriately a three-pointer – when he banked in one from beyond the arc as the shot clock expired.

That dagger shot capped another strong shooting performance against the Slingers for the 21-year old who had just celebrated his birthday yesterday, and he has now made 12 of 15 shots against the Singapore team in three games.

The Slingers finally got it down to single-digits with 2:40 to play on LeBlanc’s lay up which reduced the deficit to nine, but the Dragons survived several empty possessions and nervy turnovers by running the clock out and making their free throws. They converted nine of 12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to make up for their dismal output from the field, and saw the game out to the delight of the home crowd.

The Slingers, who have already clinched a playoff spot, fell to 8-5 in the win-loss column. A win would have confirmed at least second position in the league standings, and home-court advantage in the semi-finals, but they will now have to win one of their two remaining games to be assured of that.

The Dragons, meanwhile, improve to 6-8, although another win by the Brunei Barracudas, who have two games to play, would eliminate them from playoff contention.

Singapore Slingers Game Box Score

KL Dragons Game Box Score

For more game pics, click here.

Join the Red Crew of Erwin Wong and Jan Lin for the live play-by-play commentary of the match at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.