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.”

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.”

Jakarta, Sunday, February 21, 2010 – The Philippine Patriots beat Satria Muda BritAma 75-67 to sweep the best-of-five ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals 3-0.

This game was a turning point for both squads – the Patriots were seeking to end the season with the crown while Satria Muda were fighting to extend the series on home court.

The Starting lineups were:

PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS – Philippines
Warren Ybanez (Cebu Ninos – Liga)
JP Alcaraz (Mandaue Landmasters – Liga)
Jerwin Gaco (Trace-Laguna Stallions – Liga)
Gabe Freeman (San Miguel Beermen – PBA)
Jason Dixon (Chinese Basketball Association)

SATRIA MUDA BRITAMA – Indonesia
Mario Wuysang (Garuda Bandung Fenix – IBL)
Youbel Sondakh (Satria Muda – IBL)
Rony Gunawan (Satria Muda – IBL)
Alex Hartman (Satria Muda – IBL)
Nakiea Miller (Satria Muda – IBL)

The first quarter favored the hosts as Satria Muda shot the lights out of the visitors and almost reaching a double-digit lead with Sondakh and Gunawan leading the way.

JP Alcaraz was subbed by Rob Wainwright (ROSE) and made two 3-pointers to close the gap for the visitors. For the first time since their first meeting in the same arena, the hosts led by a four-point margin.

Miller had to sit out in the first quarter after Gaco accidentally poked him in the eye as they tussled for a rebound.

End of 1st Quarter: Satria Muda 17 Patriots 13

The second quarter was intense physically which got both the hosts and the crowd worked up in Jakarta. Coach Alas’ defensive strategies were at work here and the visitors and the hosts exchanged leads until half-time.

Patriot Jerwin Gaco hit Satria Muda’s Rony Gunawan with an elbow which caused a bench-clearing altercation, earning himself a technical foul and giving two free throws to Satria Muda.

Gaco was replaced by Nonoy Baclao to calm things down and Jason Dixon ended the quarter with a gorilla dunk over a silenced Nakiea Miller in a final minute of a half that resembled a giant chess match.

End of 1st Half: Satria Muda 31 Patriots 35

The third quarter was a continuation of the second with the Patriots never trailed from this point on. Notably, Alex Hartman, Prihantono and Gunawan were cracking open the Patriots’ defense at points but Jason Dixon and Gabe Freeman answered with their scoring and defensive displays.

A Freeman attempt to stop Gunawan turned into a goaltending call while the quarter became a Freeman-versus-Hartman-and-the-locals shootout.

3rd Quarter: Satria Muda 51 Patriots 62

The fourth quarter started with Patriots’ Christian Coronel stripping Satria Muda’s Mario Wuysang for a lay-up to spark a Patriots run that re-established an 11-point lead.

Satria Muda answered with a series of jumpers from Hartman and Co. to catch up while the visitors went cold for the remainder of the quarter and had to rely on free throws for points.

While Miller failed, Dixon rose to the occasion and scored from the post. Nonoy Baclao garnered the rebounds before being replaced by Gaco who received a hostile reception from the crowd.

Gaco scored the final basket for the Patriots and they wound the clock before Warren Ybanez threw the ball into the air and Hartman took the opportunity to score at the buzzer.

Final Score: Satria Muda 67 Patriots 75 (Patriots win series 3–0)

Analysis:

1. “Defense wins championships” was the mantra of the Patriots and this mindset paid off in their six meetings with Satria Muda. Despite the partisan crowds and the trash talking between players, it was the swarming, relentless defense of steals, blocks and stops that gave the Patriots the first ABL championship.

Satria Muda’s defense consists mainly of collapsing on the imports and ignoring the locals and the zone defense which at first, was effective. However, they were not able to maintain the defensive effort, leaving the Patriots to score at certain angles.

In the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, their defense was lax when they should have gambled on the hard presses to snatch a possession or two.

2. The roster depth was another factor. The Patriots have at least four to five local shooters at their disposal and three enforcers who can provide ample defensive stops.

Patriots had the luxury of a 3-guard rotation that could carry the ball and direct plays during the game. When the game got tough and the starters were in foul trouble, coach Louie Alas had second or third options in Sta. Maria and Coronel at guard, Acuna, Espiritu and Mirza at forward and Baclao at center. None of them are leading scorers but they can attack the basket when necessary.

Satria Muda did not have the luxury of a guard rotation and while Prihantono and Achmed Faisal are shooters, it was Wuysang, their only legitimate point guard, who was getting harassed by the Patriots defense.

Besides Hartman, Gunawan is Satria Muda’s other scorer but coach Fictor Roring has no option aside from Youbel Sondakh. There is no third option for the forward position. Furthermore, Situmorang could not fill Miller’s role in the five spot.

3. Tempo control was important in the game because it determined the team’s performance. In the first quarter, we saw Satria Muda leading by four but they were later overtaken by the Patriots.

Why?

Because they could not seize the moment when the opportunity presented itself and probably lacked the mentality for it.

They did not take their chances and gave the Patriots time to react and reset their strategies. The Patriots have better experiences in this category and delivered the Championship.

It was a fitting end to a fantastic championship in the same arena that started it all. We have witnessed the rise of new stars that caught the respect and awe of their peers, new teams that revealed new systems and the rise of new role players who endeared themselves to fans and lastly, an emergence of a new champion that will set the tone for basketball in the ASEAN region.

Scoring Breakdown by Quarter
Satria Muda v Patriots
1st Q: 17-13
2nd Q: 14-22
3rd Q: 21-29
4th Q: 15-11

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

Jakarta, Sunday, February 21, 2010 – The inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) season drew to a close as the Philippine Patriots displayed their all-round supremacy on the hardwood to defeat Satria Muda BritAma 75-67 and earn a much-deserved 3-0 series sweep to claim the title of champions.

The emphasis of the entire season has been about the strength in depth of the Patriots and game three was no exception. While their dynamic scorer Gabe Freeman had one of his poorer shooting nights, his American counterpart Jason Dixon was simply unstoppable with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

That’s not to belittle Freeman’s effort either. He ended up with 17 points and 19 rebounds and played some simply suffocating defense on Alex Hartman, a key factor in the series win. In fact, the extent of Freeman’s impact on this team cannot be overstated enough. Since he joined the team with two games to go in the regular season, the Patriots have been undefeated.

Freeman and Dixon are undoubtedly the league’s most potent 1-2 punch and they showed their mettle again by comprehensively outplaying the Satria Muda import duo of Hartman and Nakiea Miller who finished with 14 and 13 points respectively.

After the Patriots had won the first two games, the series shifted to Jakarta where SMB coach Fictor Roring was hoping for a shift in momentum. The intensity and atmosphere generated by their home crowd seemed to lift the Indonesians as they stormed to an early nine-point lead at 14-5.

But their momentum was halted when Miller had to take a seat after being inadvertently poked in the eye by Patriots forward Jerwin Gaco while battling for a rebound. His absence gave the Patriots impetus to start mounting a comeback, which the champions duly obliged by looking for Dixon to establish his superiority inside.

Miller did return for the second quarter but at that point, Dixon had clearly found his rhythm torching the Indonesians for 12 markers in that crucial second period, mixing an array of inside moves and some deft outside shooting.

With a four-point lead at the half, the Patriots came out in the third quarter with more intensity, starting out the period with a 7-0 run and building an 11-point lead that SMB were simply unable to dig themselves out of.

Not that SMB gave up. They did everything possible to come back but in the end it was just too much firepower from the Patriots as they coasted home to an impressive victory and the inaugural ABL championship.

There has been a lot of mention about the imports in the series but a lot of credit has to go to local Indonesian Rony Gunawan who may have been his team’s player of the series. He had strong efforts in the first two games and Game 3 was no exception as he finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds in a losing effort.

His effort kept SMB close and he should hold his head up high after establishing himself as a true quality basketball player and if SMB can add a few more pieces next year, they could go even further.

As for now, the moment belongs to the Patriots who have been the league’s best team all season and have once again shown the Philippines’ supremacy when it comes to basketball in Southeast Asia.

The league will undoubtedly go a long way towards closing the gap between the Philippines and the rest of the countries but that is still in the future. The present and the reality is that the Philippines have more basketball talent than the other countries and SMB can be proud of pushing the Patriots as hard as they did.

“This has been a fantastic start to our inaugural season and the league can only get stronger from here on out,” said Kuhan Foo, chief executive officer of the ABL.

“We’ve already made a huge impact with our games televised live across the South East Asia and being streamed live on the internet in Europe, the United States and North Asia. We‘re looking at adding more teams to the league and we are working closely with the South East Asian Basketball Association making this league stronger in its second season that will start in October this year,” he added.

Scoring Breakdown by Quarter
Satria Muda v Patriots
1st Q: 17-13
2nd Q: 14-22
3rd Q: 21-29
4th Q: 15-11

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

The Philippine Patriots can wrap up the first-ever ABL title in this match while Satria Muda BritAma will attempt to delay the title celebrations at home. Join Red Crew Erwin Wong as he brings you the play-by-play action on court live from Jakarta’s BritAma Arena!

Game 2 of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) finals between Philippines’ best amateur/collegiate players and Indonesia’s best professional local cagers, along with their respective top-scoring import reinforcements, saw the dynamic defensive effort from the hosts Philippine Patriots bruising the offensive confidence of Satria Muda BritAma of Indonesia.

Not to be denied were the battle of tacticians respected in their own right – “Ace coach” Luis Alas from the Philippines and the legendary Fictor Roring from Indonesia. With both teams coached by their respective local coaches, this has made the competition twice as sweet and gives a glimpse of what the ABL has envisioned for the region.

The Patriots started with Cebu Ninos’ Warren Ybanez, Mandaue Landmasters’ JP Alcaraz, Trace-Laguna Stallions’ Gerwin Gaco, San Miguel Beermen’s Gabe Freeman along with American import Jason Dixon.

Satria Muda started with their dynamic American duo of Alex Hartman and Nakiea Miller alongside their experienced locals Youbel Sondakh, Rony Gunawan and Garuda Bandung Fenix’s Mario Wuysang.

The first quarter was an intense affair where the locals of both teams were evenly matched as their imports were having a hard time finding their rhythm. The Indonesians were all-out in their assault though Gabe Freeman eventually managed to sink nine points to put the home team 19-13 ahead at the end of the first period.

The second quarter witnessed a turning point in the game when Alas had no choice but to bench Freeman after the American received his third personal foul and had to sit out with 13 points.

Seizing the moment, Rob Wainwright started hitting the boards for the Filipino outfit while Satria Muda found a lone heroic ranger in Rony Gunawan, who wreaked havoc in the shaded area for the Indonesian outfit all night.

Patriot Baclao then entered the fray for Gaco, and the 6’ 5’’ enforcer along with Elmer Espiritu executed effective defense, limiting Satria Muda’s overall score to just 13 points in the second quarter.

Rob Wainwright dutifully hit home a treble of 3-pointers, while Satria Muda’s imports continued to struggle with Nakiea Miller sinking in only one of four free throws and an ineffective Hartman was rested. The Patriots held a 15-point, 41-26 lead at half-time.

The third quarter, however, was a definitive moment for the visiting Satria Muda as they seemed to rise from the dead to outscore the Patriots 17–11 through the combined efforts of the local cagers Gunawan, Sondakh and Wuysang at the beginning of the third period. Playing as a cohesive unit, Satria Muda were able to wrong foot the Patriots’ defense on several occasions to make the baskets.

Coach Alas was sensing blood and he promptly released the foul-troubled Gabe Freeman back into the game at the 5:00 mark of the quarter. Hartman, harassed all night by the physicality of Wainwright and Baclao, was visibly disturbed, and this allowed Freeman to wander and keep the visitors at bay. Patriots held on to lead 52-43 going into the fourth period.

The final period was a battle of attrition where physicality trumped finesse as Jason Dixon continually muscled his way to the basket and Miller reciprocated. There were moments of brilliance from Hartman but they were altogether overshadowed by the incredibly sharp and sturdy Patriots defense that frustrated Satria Muda’s imports all night. With a persistent Coronel harassing Wuysang right through to the final period, it was apparent that Satria Muda’s offensive confidence was dealt a blow.

It was a close fight at the start of the final period, with a lease of hope for a last-minute turnaround for the visitors, but once the Freeman show started along with Dixon springing to life and lorded over under the basket, the hosts were unstoppable.

With less than three minutes on the clock, for good measure, coach Roring benched his starting five while coach Alas fielded an all-local line-up to complete the victory march as the Patriots took the second game 72-53 to lead 2-0 in the best-of-five finals series.

Trivia: This win of the Patriots coincided with the 4-0 sweep of the Barangay Ginebra Kings by the Alaska Aces in the PBA. Alaska advances to the finals.

Editor’s Note: If you would also like to share your review and analysis with the other Red Hoops readers, send your story to jan@redhoops.com.

For box scores and related story:
Patriots beat Satria Muda again to go 2-0 up in ABL finals

San Juan, Wednesday, February 17, 2010 – The Philippine Patriots have put themselves within touching distance of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) championship with a resounding 72-53 victory over Satria Muda BritAma in Game 2 of the best-of-five finals.

Patriots coach Louis Alas had called for a more sustained defensive effort and got it this time, holding the Indonesian champions to just 53 points.

With a 2-0 lead, the series now shifts to Jakarta where Satria Muda will be hoping that their home court will be as kind to them as Manila was to the Patriots. With their backs to the walls, Satria Muda need some inspiration to get anywhere near the Patriots, who are still unbeaten after adding import Gabe Freeman to their lineup.

Freeman was at his usual brilliant best with 23 points and 13 rebounds but when he had to sit down after being saddled with 3 fouls in the second quarter, it was local Filipino Rob Wainwright who took over the scoring.

Doing the majority of his damage with Freeman on the bench, Wainwright finished with 16 points, 11 of those coming in the first half, yet another testament to the strength in depth that the Patriots can call upon.

As for the Jakarta-based club, it was yet another disappointing outing for their import duo of Alex Hartman and Nakiea Miller who finished with 12 and 11 points respectively, figures which are simply not good enough if Satria Muda are to have any chance whatsoever of making this series a competitive one.

Miller did get into double digits for rebounding with 10 but it is apparent that without the injured local Christian Sitepu to help him out on the boards, the enigmatic center is showing signs of strain.

In fact, Satria Muda’s top scorer for the game was their local star Rony Gunawan who surprised the Patriots with 15 markers as the Patriots held Hartman and Miller in check.

Not that the home side had it all their own way. When Hartman hit one of his three 3-pointers to kick off the fourth quarter, Satria Muda were down by just six points at 46-52. But a 13-0 run by the Patriots put paid to any comeback hopes for Satria Muda.

The run was sparked by a 3-pointer from their point guard Christian Coronel whose aggressive defense on his Indonesian counterpart Mario Wuysang might have been called for fouls had this game been played in any other city except Manila, yet another advantage of home court comforts.

The 13-0 run ballooned the lead to 19 and was just too much for Satria Muda to dig themselves out of and the Patriots were able to cruise all the way home to what many now perceive as an unassailable series lead and gives them the chance to go for a series clinching victory this Sunday in Jakarta.

For Satria Muda, both Hartman and Miller need to find some way to get themselves out of their shooting funk and establish their presence in the series.

A frustrated Miller said on his twitter feed: “Indonesia I apologize for the terrible game! I always admit when I play terrible! Can’t play great every game!”

Satria Muda fans will be hoping Miller and Hartman find their game on Sunday back on home court against a potent Patriots lineup and that they have not left it too late.

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

Pasig, Philippines, Friday, February 13, 2010 – Gabe Freeman roared out of the gates as he led the Philippine Patriots to a 78-68 victory over Satria Muda BritAma in the finals of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). The victory gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Freeman scored 39 points, accumulating half of the Patriots score while getting 14 rebounds. Jason Dixon added 13 points and 17 rebounds to supplement Freeman’s efforts. Rob Wainwright added 9 points and Warren Ybanez contributed 5 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists to spearhead the Patriots offense.

Nakiea Miller led Satria Muda with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Alex Hartman struggled with only 12 points on 4-15 field-goal shooting. Wuysang added 11 points and Ronny Gunawan added 10 points to lead the production of the Indonesian locals.

It was a tight first quarter, as the Patriots took a 23-19 lead with Freeman scoring from all corners of the court. It seemed the Patriots would slowly pull away as they ended half-time leading 48-41.

But instead of running away with the game, the Patriots saw Satria Muda BritAma charge back with a 15-2 run during the first six minutes of the third quarter with Rony Gunawan leading the comeback to go ahead 56-50.

The Patriots fought back though and took a 60-58 lead at the end of the third quarter.

And it was all Patriots during the crucial fourth quarter, as they put on a 12-2 run. Rob Wainwright’s three pointer with 1:09 left put the dagger into Satria Muda, giving the Patriots a 78-67 lead.

Although the Patriots won the game, Coach Louie Alas was not satisfied with the performance during the third quarter. Alas told Red Hoops: “ The team was too relaxed and too complacent.” He added that he will remind the boys of that performance and does not want that to happen again.

Meanwhile for the Indonesian-based club, Gabe Freeman was certainly top of mind.

“We must limit Freeman’s production next game,” said Satria Muda coach Fictor Roring.

As for Gunawan’s performance, Roring said that he plans to use Gunawan more in the next game and might even start him, as he has the height advantage that he can use on the offensive end.

Expect adjustments for Alex Hartman as well. Coach Roring said he wanted Hartman, who took a lot of outside shots in this game, to attack the basket more.

Satria Muda will probably have to make adjustments on the rebounding and three point shooting as well, as they were outrebounded by the Patriots 56-40 and shot only 15% from beyond the arc compared to the Patriots’ 29%.

Despite the win, Coach Alas does not think the series will be easy, as he believes it will be a very tough game from now on as he acknowledges the toughness of Satria Muda.

Game 2 will be held at the Fil Oil Flying V Arena in San Juan, Manila, on February 17, 2010, 8pm.

The Patriots have now won four times this season against Satria Muda, including a 3-0 sweep during the regular season.

Philippine Patriots Game Box Score

Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score

With less than 24 hours to the tip off of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League Finals series between the Philippine Patriots and Satria Muda in Manila, the visitors are not as concerned about playing away from home than they are about playing without heart.

With all the hype surrounding home court advantage, many often forget that the away disadvantage can be minimised and turned into an advantage, just as Satria Muda did in Singapore when an unusually confident Alex Hartman sparked his team off to unleash a braveheart performance.

“I was feeling confident in the first half. I just felt that we need to send a message,” said Hartman whose energy was infectious. “We need to play like we did in Jakarta. If we did right from the jump they would either fall or it would be a close game and it was a close game.”

Like a true Leo, Hartman’s lion heart and appetite was evident in Singapore where he nailed 30 points, including four treys from eight attempts.

The 24-year-old said: “We weren’t confident the last two times we played here (Singapore), we didn’t have a good shooting night, I didn’t have a good shooting night, Nakiea got emotionally out of the last game, we had a lot of turnovers, we just didn’t play team basketball. We went back to Jakarta and I think that was a total boost in everyone’s game and we thought if we play like that we could beat Slingers in Singapore.”

“I’m just happy that in the first half I could do my job and in the second half, Nakiea could do his,” continued Hartman, who had 21 points to his name by the half-time buzzer while fellow import Nakiea Miller managed only two.

Hartman, together with Amin Prihantono, the team’s captain in the domestic league, contributed to the bulk of the scoring before another local-import duo of Miller and ‘Super’ Mario Wuysang stepped up in the second half. Rony Gunawan also made his presence felt in the second half and was formidable in his defense in the crucial final period.

“We really focused on our defence coming into the series,” Wuysang let out. “We didn’t do good in Game 1, but really tightened up in Game 2 and in this last game, so we really focused on our defence.”

Hartman added: “At the beginning we didn’t play that good in defense, we turned it around but the thing is we had other people stepping up. We had Amin stepped up big time in the first half, Mario stepped up in the second half and had a solid game. We just had a lot of people who played with confidence.”

Both Hartman and Wuysang acknowledged that the army of Satria Muda’s fans, who have traveled to Singapore for the game, fueled the team’s display, minimising the away disadvantage.

When asked about the vociferous support from their fans, Wuysang said: “We were surprised about the Indonesian supporters today. We weren’t ready for that. We didn’t expect that. It was good to see it, and it really helped us.”

“The fans were amazing, I felt like Jakarta really came out to support us, we knew they were coming out to support us,” Hartman chipped in. “When you know a lot of people are backing you, you try a little harder and that’s why a lot of people were stepping up and were more confident because a lot of people were backing them up.”

Wuysang further added: “It’s so tough to win here (Singapore). We got beat pretty bad in the first game. And there was a little bit of online trash talking, so we took it kind of personal. It made it a little more personal to us. It definitely was a motivation, and it’s just amazing we could win here.”

Satria Muda’s head coach Fictor Roring also praised Wuysang and Miller’s outstanding contribution in the last quarter and gave special credit to the locals for stepping up when Nakiea Miller lost his cool in the first half after being hurt by Slinger Al Vergara.

“This is what I call team work, the others stepping up so that Nakiea could calm down. When the imports are not well, the locals have to step up and play,” the Indonesian coach shared.

“The Slingers is a great team, they have a great coach who did a great job with them but experience made the difference,” Roring said. “My team is used to this kind of situation, being down in the first game in the series and coming back to win the series just like we did in our IBL (Indonesia Basketball League) last year. It was exactly the same situation.”

“In terms of imports, I think Nakiea and Alex are at the same level with Jeffers and LeBlanc. In this kind of (playoff) situations, the tactics, the strategies are not so important. What is important is playing with the heart,” coach Roring added.

Reinforcing these sentiments, Hartman said: “It was tight going into the fourth quarter and when that happens, the last 10 minutes aren’t about the players, the coaching, it’s about who has the best heart, the most heart, who can get through to the hoops and make the free throws.”

Coach Roring would know best. The Indonesian coach had led Satria Muda to a famous victory over Philippine’s Harbour Center at the 2008 SEABA Champions Club final, ending Philippine’s 10-year domination in the regional club competition.

“So we have a big chance against Patriots though we lost to them three times in the regular season but, in this kind of (finals) situation, it is the heart. Just as when we lost the home court advantage to Slingers we know it will be difficult and we lost by a big margin in the first game but, this is the playoffs, it’s different,” reiterated coach Roring.

Satria Muda have walked the talk in their semi-final playoff series against a Slingers team who had the second best home record during the regular season (6-2). While the Patriots may have fumbled twice in Singapore, no team has yet to beat them at home, but Satria Muda will be playing their hearts out in Manila to show that with that, home advantage is nothing.

This mouth-watering ABL finals series will take place at Manila’s Ynares Sports Arena at 6pm (UTC/GMT +8) tomorrow. Entrance is free.

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