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Last game of the season for the Slingers

jason — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:36:52 +0000

I was supposed to do a little write up on the final Asean Basketball League (ABL) Playoff game between the Singapore Slingers and Satria Muda BritAma early this month. But given the time constraints and not forgetting the usual bit of slacking off all mixed together in a bag that already included frustration over how our local team performed, let’s say I apologise for the tardiness. In fact, I was so late that the ABL Finals ended today with a best-of-five-games sweep over the Indonesian team (hands them the broom) by the formidable Philippine Patriots. Congratulations guys, you truly are the better team for the season.

Coming back to early February, if you don’t already know, the Slingers were sent packing and out of this year’s ABL season after the loss to the Indonesian team 86-76. I won’t go into the details of the game given that you can find out more about it here, here, here and here (by the way, did I said I was late?). But what I can do is to leave you with some photos of the final playoff game.

With a few months to regroup, rethink and perhaps restructure before the next season, I believe the Slingers have alot on their hands. This is especially after coach Frank Arsego has announced his decision on not returning to the team due to family reasons a couple of days back. Thanks to coach Frank for sticking with the team despite a number really rough experiences that transpired throughout the two years of his tenure. You will be sorely missed.

Until the next season, which I hope will be better managed (I am referring to the home team) – Gooooo Slingers!!

More photos in my Flickr album here.

Hartman broke my lens…broke my heart

jason — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:10:42 +0000

It was a double heart breaker for me yesterday afternoon at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Not only did Satria Muda Britama take the Singapore Slingers down in the third and deciding semi-final game of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), the visiting team’s star player Alex Hartman was responsible for breaking my AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens.

I have always considered the photographers’ zone at any basketball game as some sort of a war zone. With stray basketballs flying at any direction at top speed and players crashing into you (these guys are big), photographers require quick reflexes to pull their cameras away from their face and either stop what’s coming towards them or brace themselves for some heavy contact. While I have been rather quick and fortunate all these years sitting at the Slingers’ court with a fantastic view, I guess I wasn’t quick enough on Sunday.

Nevermind that I caught a number of really interesting shots during the first two quarters, it was during the middle of the third quarter when the incident happened and everything went downhill from there. It all started when Slingers’ import Marcus “Dude you are really killing me with your reckless drives and turnovers” Ng drove into the paint for a very contested layup and drew a foul. Hartman in the heat of the moment, caught the stray basketball and threw it at the photographers’ direction with his right hand in frustration. That was when the ball went straight towards me, hit my lens and sent it flying towards another photographer.

My last shot before the incident

With that, my lens was pretty much busted and all attempts to self repair was unsuccessful. A small but significant piece of the lens broke off. Hartman in an unsportsmanlike conduct pulled off one heck of a dumb-ass move. While I was able to mount my lens on the camera, it was extremely loose and the photos captured were completely dark and off. Well done Hartman…well done!! You broke my heart!! Honestly I don’t really care if that was unintentional. Everything is on tape and I’m pretty sure at least half the spectators saw what happened (does anyone have a copy?). Thankfully, a fellow media photographer passed me his fish eye lens and I continued shooting knowing that I could have gotten better results if my lens wasn’t broken.

Left: The busted area | Right: The piece that broke off

Moving on, I’m probably going to write to the ABL and Satria Muda Britama about the incident. These teams are normally insured and I hope to get the team to either replace a new lens or bear the full cost of the repair. More of that soon ~cross fingers~

Slingers one win away from ABL Finals

jason — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:57:54 +0000

In a series where the stakes are high and bragging rights prevalent, the Singapore Slingers edged forward and took game one of the best of three in the Asean Basketball League Playoffs against the Satria Muda BritAma, 87 – 68. Playing with confidence despite trading basket at both ends, the Slingers put up with tough defence from the visiting team before starting to pull away as the final 10 minutes began ticking.

Tip off!!

Top scorers for the home team went to our American imports #31 Kyle Jeffers and #35 Michael LeBlanc who collectively made 43 points, almost half the team’s final score. Both players also made double-double pulling down 10 rebounds each and were perfect at the charity stripe.

Left: Jeffers making a hook | Right: Jeffers hitting a buzzer beater

Left: Michael going the other way | Right: Making a trey

Our other imports also contributed significantly with Philippine sensation #19 Al Vegara together with #21 Marcus Ng contributing 10 points each. Al also made four assists and three steals while Marcus got six rebounds.

Left: Al can drive… | Right: Al can shoot

Left: Marcus going to the other side | Right: Finishing a perfect alley-oop

Local Slinger boy #10 Hong Wei Jian did us proud again putting up 11 points, two assists and three steals. While, most of his points were taken from the free throw line, he almost had a perfect night missing only just one. Most notably is his constant fearless drives to the bucket in the face of big defenders resulting in a number of clashes and hack-downs. Let’s just say not only did he really take it for the team, he made the visitors pay with his free throws.

Left: Wei Jian goes for a contested lay up | Right: Taking one for the team before going to the charity stripe

Our visitors although put up a good fight were unfortunately not able to respond to the Slingers’ arsenal. Their only main scorers were #43 Nakiea Miller and #8 Alexander Gordon Hartman who walked way with 18 and 21 points respectively. Only Miller had a double-double night with 13 rebounds. The rest of the squad were unable to respond.

Left and Right: Miller going in

Left: Hartman completes an alley-oop emphatically | Right: Heading to the rim

The two teams will meet for game two on Wednesday in Jakarta, Indonesia. I’m pretty sure Satria Muda BritAma has a score to settle and will give the Slingers a run for their money. Game three if necessary will be held in Singapore this Sunday. Honestly, as much as I would like to see the Slingers play live (with a fantastic view), I’m rooting for a sweep ~starts waving a broom~. Gooooo Slingers.

You can read more of the game at the Slingers’ website, Redsports and Len’s blog.

More photos available in my Flickr album here.

Slingers torched as Dragons hands them their first home loss

jason — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:00:52 +0000

I’m pretty sure the media had field day reporting about the Singapore’s Slingers’ first loss at home to the KL Dragons with a tonne of ‘sizzling’ title wordplay. There’s so much one can do with the word Dragons and anything related to burning, fire, etc. Here’s my continuation after my previous post on how Singapore Slingers and fans got owned on their own soil. But first, much thanks to Nic and Daphne for organising and scoring us fantastic passes.

If the Dragons’ performance on Sunday is any indication of how their style of play is going to be like for the rest of their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) campaign, the other teams better watch out. With strong inside presence and a tonne of scoring options, I reckon their current 4th position in the ABL ladder would slowly climb to top seed. Yes the Dragons are hungry and they could be a force to be reckoned with.

With a full squad and the return of point guard Wei Long after his chicken pox saga (welcome back dude), the number one Singapore Slingers have absolutely no reason why they should lose sunday’s game – especially at home and to a team that seem to be heading towards the wooden spoon award. But I guess in the case of yesterday’s game, complacency could possibly be an issue as the home team were caught with their guard down totalling 16 turnovers and a shooting average of under 50%.

Len and I have always discussed about a key element missing in the Slingers squad – big inside presence. KL’s #30 Jamal Brown who was once a Slinger is the kind of guy we believed the team needed, and ironically made his ex-team pay dearly for defaulting him before the Dragons picked him up. Together with a supporting cast of big men including #3 Chris Danial Kuete Lonichi and #33 Chee Lee Wei (mad hops dude!!), the Slingers had to work doubly hard getting inside.

Slingers’ imports #31 Kyle Jeffers and #33 Michael LeBlanc were held to just 12 and 13 points respectively, together with low shooting percentages. Despite Jeffers’ double-double efforts with 16 rebounds, the home team still found difficulty getting points in the paint. However, local boy #10 Hong Wei Jian stepped up to the plate and finished with a season-high 18 points and 4 rebounds, perhaps the first in Slingers’ history did a local outscore their imports (I can’t verify that, hope someone can). #11 Michael Wong (sorry, unable to take any photos of you) also contributed with 10 points, making 50% of his shots and Philippine sensation #19 Al Vergara had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Left: Wei Jian takes it to the rim | Right: Challenges his ex-teammate in the paint

Left: LeBlanc had to fire from the outside | Right: Al fights to the rim

At the other end the Dragons roughed it out with the Slingers as Kuete and #10 Rudy Lingganay put up 20 and 21 points. Rudy whom I believe hailed from the Philippines was totally sick with his inside scoring. How he managed to get inside in the presence of big defense, I’ll never know. Together with Kuete they both contributed from beyond the arc with six treys. Brown too had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds (oh, he got three blocks too). Most importantly, his intimidating presence and iron curtain defence played a huge role in preventing inside points, something that statistics will never show.

Left: Kuete takes it to the hole | Right: Brown with a block in his name while Kuete jumps in a bid to swat

Left: Brown can’t get it? No problem, Kuete is on his way up for a block | Right: Brown contributes from the baseline

On a lighter note, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t take as many photos as I would have for other games. I think might have spent a majority of the time ball watching than shooting (hey, it was an intense game and we needed numbers), something I should shake off for future games. I’m pretty sure I missed plenty of good shots.

The Slingers will take a two-week break before hosting the Thailand Tigers on 7 Dec at the Indoor Stadium. Currently placed last, the Tigers have the same record as the KL Dragons before they met the home team on Sunday. Will the Slingers put their guard down again and repeat another defeat by a statistically weaker team, or will they find some time for self reflection and redeem themselves with a win? There is only one way to find out. Tickets are available at Sistic. Of course KL Dragons fans are more than welcome to visit. But this time, cheer for us yah? Goooooo Slingers!!

More photos in my Flickr album here.

Singapore Slingers and fans got owned at home

jason — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:00:52 +0000

Of course this is based on my observation but still, I find it rather interesting and blog worthy. The Singapore Slingers experienced their first ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) loss at home to the KL Dragons today, 74-86. Apart from great plays by the visiting team and the Slingers being owned on the boards with strong rebounds from the Dragons’ Jamal Brown, who once donned a Slinger jersey (more of that in another article), the 1,000 if not more Singapore Slingers fans were completely owned by a small group of KL Dragons in team t-shirts cheering for their team and waving their flags. From what I gathered, they actually travelled all the way from KL to Singapore for the game (can anyone verify that?).

What seemed to be an home court advantage became an away game for the Singapore Slingers as cheers from the 50 or more strong KL Dragon fans drowned the somewhat quiet home fans. After the game, Singapore fans were taunted by Dragons’ fans rhythmically outside the Indoor Stadium entrance as they banged on drums and symbols (yes, they brought musical instruments down) in their bid to create more hype, which they did pretty well.

Nice sounding “Wicked Aura Batucada” like tunes aside (well I kinda liked it), I wished I could say that the Dragons’ fans are just celebrating the win, but with chants like “Who won today? KL Dragons!!”, followed by cheers by our visitors, I think that qualifies as taunting (hey…I could be wrong). As for the Singapore fans, they just stood there, watched and some even cheered after they stopped playing. Of course as friendly competition goes, in addition to Singapore being a safe country and the fact that there are really no super hardcore Slinger fans, there were no fights or incidents…thankfully ~wipes brow~.

Left: The small but strong KL Dragons fans cheering for their team | Right: I think the only time Singapore Slingers fans every stood up and cheered was for free t-shirts

Left: KL Dragons fans cheering after the game ended | Right: The celebration continues outside the Indoor Stadium

I know its not soccer and I have always wished for a strong Slinger fan base especially at home and a completely sell out crowd at the Indoor stadium chanting “Let’s go Slingers!! Let’s go!!”. But at the rate how things are going, I reckon that Singapore fans will continue to be owned by fans from visiting teams as the ASEAN Basketball League carries on until the end of season. Oddly, for a country that produces the loudest and proudest complainers, Singaporeans are rather quiet eh?

My report on the game coming soon. Once I get the statistics…

I’m really not dead..neither are the Slingers

jason — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:28:56 +0000

Woah it has been a while since my last entry. I guess its a combination of my busy schedule especially with the big project coming up in under two months together with mix bag of laziness, two new games (NBA Live 10 and DJ Hero) and other little things that led to a blog drought. Of course my cable connectivity has played a huge role in my inactivity. So dear folks at Starhub, you have no idea how itching I am to switch to a dedicated line once my contract with you is up. If your claim on being the fastest takes me back to my 56.6kbps days, I wonder how much slower can you get? This time the turtle doesn’t win.

Rants aside, the good news is that there are loads of things to write about and if I don’t get cracking, stories will pile up and I’ll definitely start forgetting them. Heck, I’ve gotten so far from blogging that my article on the Singapore Slingers’ match up against Satria Muda BritAma on 1 November (its a good day) is not up yet. Twenty days later, the Slingers have moved on losing one to the Philippine Patriots and taking another against the Satria Muda BritAma in both away games, while I’m still sitting idly by thinking its nice to be 4-0.

Of course I would love to go all hardworking and write about 1 November but there’s really no point. All the reports are up and you might as well read it from the Slingers themselves, Len who has been diligently keeping us updated and Red Hoops. I’m sure there are more reports but let’s keep it clean. The Singapore Slingers currently lead the ASEAN Basketball League with a 5-1 record and will be hosting the KL Dragons (2-4) tomorrow afternoon at the National Stadium. Len has a tonne of useful information here. Tickets are available at Sistic.

Gooo Slingers!!

More photos of the Singapore Slingers – Satria Muda BritAma game in my Flickr album here.

Slingers gun down Patriots

jason — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:07:47 +0000

The Singapore Slingers extended their winning streak to three (of three games) in their Asean Basketball League campaign with a 80-82 away victory over the Brunei Barracudas yesterday afternoon. With a game scheduled for the Slingers every week and the completion of round three yesterday, it means that my entry on last week’s (round two) game against the Philippine Patriots is way overdue. My bad on that.

Of course this would not have been possible without the hook up from Nic and Daphne for arranging, so much love to you guys. Last week, the Singapore Slingers managed to take down the formidable Philippine Patriots in an extremely intense and hard fought game. Bad refereeing aside (can’t blame Singaporean referees now) resulting in costly possession losses for both teams, the game was held extremely close until a late Slinger explosion that sent the visiting team packing with promises for revenge in their next meeting.

Patriots’ imports #42 Jason Lamar Dixon and #1 Brandon Charles Powell were their only double digit contributors for the game with 12 and 15 points respectively. Brandon had a double double that night pulling down 11 rebounds while Jason had nine. The rest of the Patriots players may not have put up as many points as their two American imports but their defence was impeccable leading to a Slingers’ inbound collapse in the fourth quarter and taking back a number of possessions. If the Slingers want another ‘W’ in their next in their next match up away, this is one key issue they must address.

Left: Jason going to the rim | Right: Trying to get in the paint

Left: Brandon fires from long range | Right: Flushes a contested two

Left: #Khasim Mirza firing from the paint as Leblanc takes to the floor | Right: #4 Christian Coronel laying up contested

Patriot point guard #3 Warren Ibanez who scored eight points was unfortunately taken out of the game halfway due to a broken nose (I think). I’m not too sure how it happened even when watching from under the rim but it sent him sliding to the photographers giving me an excellent vantage point. Although I felt bad for firing my camera away as he laid there waiting for the medical staff to arrive, but to be honest, I don’t think I can contribute much, recovery position maybe? Feel better dude, we’ll meet again.

Left: A medical staff tending to Warren | Right: Blood flowing from his nose as he stood

Although there weren’t any local Slingers player who had double digits that night, all our imports did with #19 Al Vergara putting up 11, #21 Marcus Ng scoring 13, #35 Michael LeBlanc making 15 and the #31 Kyle Jeffers leading the charge with 17 points. It was another double double night again for the ‘newly made-over’ Jeffers (more of that later) with him crashing the boards taking down 12 rebounds. Despite the fourth quarter defensive lock down by the Patriots, the Slingers managed to pull through with Marcus Ng (yeah I know) putting the game to bed with a superb dunk and a making couple of free throws in the last couple of minutes.

Left: Vegara with a floater | Right: Going for a lay up despite the heavy contest

Left: Marcus heading to the rim | Right: Hammers it in

Left: Leblanc hooks it from the right | Right: Getting fouled while firing

Left: Jeffers makes a two | Right: Going from under

There were two note worthy moments of that night. Local Slinger boy #5 Wong Wei Long who scored eight points made seven of them during the final minutes of the first half. His first successful three-point caused him to head to the ground with a foul in his favour. I’m sure he must have been practicing free throws the whole of that week after missing all his attempts during the last game against the Brunei Barracudas. Thankfully, he converted a rare four-point play after making his one and only free throw of the night. Seconds after gaining possession again, he sank in another trey to the amazement of the crowd.

Left: Wei Long’s first trey before he heads to the ground | Right: Wondering if the ghost of his previous game will haunt him

Spotting a clean shaven look and hairdo, Kyle Jeffers turned up last week in a very much boy’ish look. I was initially dumbfounded, thinking we had purchased another import. But it was until fellow photographer, Francis who set me straight did I realise that he is actually Jeffers. That was same time when he turned around and I saw #31, Jeffers at the back of his jersey. Nice look dude.

Left: Pretty good looking if you would to ask me | Right: Another look but in action

The Singapore Slingers returned home with a 3-0 record and their next match next Sunday will be against the visiting Satria Muda BritAma from Indonesia. Can they extend their winning streak to four? There is only one way to find out. Tickets are available at Sistic.

Goooo Slingers!!

You can read more about the game in Len’s blog here, and more photos in my Flickr album here.

Slingers victorious in first ABL game

jason — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:59:08 +0000

The Asean Basketball League (ABL) tipped off last weekend with the visiting Brunei Barracudas facing off with the Singapore Slingers on Sunday for their first game. Thanks to Nic and Daphne for arranging this, Len and I plus the usual Spartans members had the honour of popping over to the Indoor Stadium to catch the Slingers’ inaugural ABL game.

I think that the four Singapore Challenge Series games prior to the ABL was a really good pre-season practice for the Slingers given that this is the first time our local players make up the majority of the team. To be honest, I wasn’t too sure if the local Slingers could actually survive the league in the first place. Basketball is not exactly our number one sport and we all know Singapore isn’t too fantastic with soccer (wait, whatever happened to 2010 goal?). But after seeing how our local boys are doing so far with new confidence and better team dynamics, I think they will do fine ~cross fingers~ .

Thankfully, we had a confidence booster in the first game as the Slingers triumphed over the Barracudas 87-69. However, the 18-point win was not just merely handed to the home team in a silver platter, they had to fight for it. The first two quarters saw a neck-in-neck battle against the two teams as they traded baskets with the Slingers leading by one at the start of the second half. With huge in your face defense and a sudden 31-15 third quarter spurt, the Slingers finally put the game to bed and sent all five local players onto the court in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Tip off

Having had only two weeks of training, I must say that the Barracudas’ efforts were commendable as they gave the Slingers a really hard time during the first half. American import #13 Michael Pilgrim (I can’t help but think he looks similar to Baron “Too Easy” Davis from the LA Clippers) contributed 16 points of his six of nine attempts and four rebounds while his fellow countryman and teammate #45 Lonnie Jones scored 13 points, pulled down all nine defensive rebounds and blocked five shots. Yes, Lonnie Jones is a scary guy. Filipino import #18 Leonidez Avenido pumped in 15 points, eight rebounds and dished out five assists. Unfortunately, the Barracudas’ local players did not make as much impact as their imports but I reckon with more practice sessions and more games to come, they will have something to show for.

Left: Jones lays it up in the paint | Right: Reaches to block Pathman’s fade away jumper

Left: Baron..I mean Pilgrim fearlessly takes it to the rim | Right: His only dunk of the night

Left: Going under the rim | Right: Avenido loses Al who screams for support

The Slingers did well with five of our players putting up double digits. Our local boys #5 Wei Long and #15 Pathman did us proud with them scoring 14 and 10 respectively. Wei Long proved deadly against the Barracudas with him making 50% from the three point line and five boards. However, I am pretty sure he will be practicing free throws the very next day after missing all five of his attempts ~shrugs shoulders~. Pathman too scored 50%, mostly from mid-range (I believed that will be his bread and butter position) and took down four rebounds.

Left and right: Wei Long firing at all cylinders

Left: Pathman goes basket as Francis partially blocks my camera (still much love to you bro) | Right: Fade away jumper

Our American imports were impressive and I’m ready to put my foot in my mouth anytime (just not right now ) after early skepticism that they aren’t able to contribute. #31 Kyle Jeffers crashed the boards more times than making shots with (get this..) eight offensive and 12 defensive rebounds, totaling 20 (yes 20 rebounds…crazy!!) while scoring 15 points, another double-double night for him. #35 Michael LeBlanc on the other hand made 20 points, powered for 10 rebounds with five assists. Philippine sensation #19 Al Vegara was in his phenomenal form again with amazing ball handling skills serving up eight assists and 10 points.

Left: Jeffers watches his ball go in | Right: Makes a hook from the right

Left: Leblanc draws a foul on the way to the rim | Right: Stays focused from mid range

Left: Al leading the charge | Right: Makes a pass to Wei Jian

Most noteworthy moment of the night goes to #10 Wei Jian who although made two dunk attempts, managed to pull of an emphatic two hander to the awe of the 1,000 spectators leading to an all out eruption (or at least just me).

Left: Couldn’t dunk so he lay’ed it in | Right: Flushes it (can you say poster boy?)

The next Slinger game will still be at home this Sunday at 4pm against the newly formed Philippine Patriots, who defeated Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma last Saturday. Touted as the team to take the trophy this season, the Patriots is definitely a force to be reckon with. I’m sure the Slingers too are keeping their eyes on the prize and hence, a Patriot upset is a must.

I’m sad to say that the turn out from Singaporean supporters (if any) is rather disappointing after so much criticism about the Singapore Slingers making up mostly of foreigners during the previous seasons. Now that the Singapore Slingers form a majority of local players and are doing pretty well, I wonder where all the critics are. Still it could be a lack of awareness and I hope with more games to come, we could perhaps start a different kind of Kallang wave at the Indoor Stadium soon. Tickets are available at Sistic at just a mere $8 – $18 (student discounts are also available).

You can read more about Len’s take of the game here and the importance of defense here.

More photos in my Flickr album here and here.

Slingers drown Beermen

jason — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:15:18 +0000

Much love to both Nic and of course Daphne for organising this, I popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Sunday afternoon with Len and a few other Spartans teammates to catch the clash between the Singapore Slingers and San Miguel Beermen. Having won one and lost two of four matches under the Singapore Challenge Series as a result of unnecessary turnovers and bad plays, we all arrived at the stadium with much anticipation hoping that the Slingers will for the lack of a better phrase, ‘wake up their idea’ and complete the series with a 50% winning average.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think that our local team players are good and have loads of potential. But I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see them choke under pressure. As professionals (well..kinda), I expect a little more from them especially after the last game against Ginebra.

Thankfully this time round, our team not only prevailed but managed to climb back from a 15-point deficit to take the game 71-65. Nevermind that it was all Michael Leblanc (okay, I have a little more faith in him this time round) who carried the entire team on his back during the last few minutes of the game. Everyone contributed and despite executing rusty plays at some occasions and careless dribbling fumbles (did I a hear Marcus Ng?), the Slingers remained focus and kept their eye for a ‘W’.

Tip off

However, the San Miguel Beermen aren’t exactly pushovers and their performance overall was superb, constantly giving our home team a very tough time. Armed with prominent big men such as #4 Dorian Pena and #34 Mick Pennisi, the sheer size of these two towers are enough to intimidate anyone driving towards them (or at least think twice). To Len and I, big men seemed to be a missing link in the Slingers’ lineup and aren’t exactly happy campers when we discovered that Brown who played for the first two games is not a regular, but that is another story.

Left: Pena giving Marcus the ‘ol “Thank you come again” block shot | Right: Pathman tries to stop Pena

Left and right: Pennisi taking the Slingers down…he was fouled out eventually

I was also surprised to find #29 Arwin Santos playing for the Beermen this season. He is no stranger to the Slingers having played twice against them as an Air 21 player during last year’s Singapore Challenge Series (here and here). Always with a look of intensity in his eyes, he is one heck of an agile player with great flight. However, it was #7 Dondon Hontiveros who led the Beermen with 18 points, three rebounds and three steals as well as #1 Mike Cortez who contributed 11 points, three rebounds and one block shot.

Left: Santos takes a contested shot | Right: Tough one-handed rebound

Left: Hontiveros finds the rim | Right: Loses Marcus and heads to the hole

Left: Cruz skies for a block against Wei Jian | Right: Losing the already tight ‘D’ from Michael Wong

Despite facing a formidable foe, the Slingers still held their head high with four of our players coming up with double digits. Our imports #9 Michael Leblanc led the Slingers pride putting up 14 points, three rebounds and two assist followed by #30 Kyle Jeffers who made 13 points, two assists and pulling down a whopping 10 rebounds. With encouraging performances by these two major contributors, I am hoping to see a little more consistency between the both of them as we head towards the Asean Basketball League (ABL) beginning this Sunday. We are going to need a lot from them.

Left and right: Leblanc fearlessly scores against an intimidating Pennisi

Left: Jeffers can layup… | Right: …Jeffers can shoot

Most noteworthy was local Slinger #15 Pathman Matialakan who also contributed 13 points (similar to Jeffers) by making five of seven attempts with four rebounds. Having witness him play for a good three seasons or so (I’m sure he played for more than that), Pathman has matured much from a once softy (as compared to other league players) to big tough guy. Heck, even on a number of occasions, I heard coach Frank calling for plays with him as a scorer. Although consistency is an issue, I believe it won’t be long before he becomes a major threat to any team. Of course Philippine sensation #1 Al Vegara is in his usual super point guard mode hitting 10 points, three assists and two steals.

Left: Pathman firing at all cylinders | Right: Trying to follow through after taking a foul

Left: Al takes it hard to the rim | Right: Fires an open shot

Our local boys may not have put up as many numbers, but their defence was air tight giving the Beermen little space to breath. #5 Wei Long has been most noticeable with numerous harassment attempts made against the Beermen ball handlers. His effort was soon rewarded with a super steal followed by a breakaway lay in. Perhaps the only local Slinger dunker, Wei Jian too made many valiant efforts in the face of a tough Beermen defence. His super speed and drives at under the basket if further honed can be a real danger to any opposing team.

Left: Wei Long finishes after the steal | Right: Size does not matter

Left: Under the basket courtesy of Wei Jian | Right: At the charity stripe

As the horn sounded to mark the end of the game and this year’s Singapore Challenge Series, we departed completely ecstatic and breathless with our fist pumped in the air. Len who paid more attention to the surrounding has more about the game here. If the Slingers continue their dominance on the board and game intensity like today, they will be ready to plow through any ABL team that come their way. Their first game will tip off this Sunday at 4pm against the Brunei Barracudas led by veteran coached Bong Ramos who was once Indonesia’s national coach.

Come support your local team (finally) as we aim towards taking this year’s ABL crown. Tickets are super affordable from $8 to $18 and are available at Sistic.

More photos in my Flickr album here and here.

Vengeance is Ginebra’s

jason — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:33:33 +0000

As always, thanks to Nic and especially Daphne for organising this, Len and I plus a few fellow Spartans (my basketball team) popped over to the Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night to catch a rematch between the Singapore Slingers and Ginebra. The two teams first met in mid-January this year with the visiting team taking a 100-68 pounding. Playing like the loss is still fresh in their minds, Ginebra returned with a vengeance and a ‘take no prisoners’ mentality, dishing an extremely disappointing loss to the home team, 72-77.

It isn’t so much the loss that ground my gears but rather the fourth quarter choke from both our locals and imports. To be honest, I was really really ticked. Heck, I even had to rely on the tasty Brewerkz beer that the Slingers have so kindly provided to keep my composure (you guys should really pick those up during the game ). The Slingers unfortunately caved in to Ginebra’s strong pressure defence at the start of the last 12 minutes producing bad plays and careless passes, which resulted in hefty unnecessary turnovers. What began as an encouraging five-point lead became a five-point loss in regulation time. Yes, the Slingers could have played better. But as newly reorganised teams go, there are loads of teething issues to address and I hope they do it soon.

Singapore Slingers + Brewerkz = iHappy (or iCalmer, whichever comes first)

The Ginebra team on the other hand were on form with regulars turning up in full force (or at least the prominent ones). #47 Caguioa and #71 Tubid were the stars of their team pouring in 24 and 17 points respectively. Slightly bigger, faster and stronger than the Slingers, Ginebra played superbly owning much of the boards both offensively and defensively with clever under the rim positioning and box outs. With two effective rebounders from the Slingers’ side (both imports), our local boys must make an effort to contribute more.

Left and right: Tubid’s breakaway layups on both sides

Left: Caguioa heads to the rim | Right: Speedy Caguioa

Left: Menk spins away from Pathman |Right: Another easy layup from Villanueva

Ginebra before tip off

However, it was not all Ginebra as the Singapore Slingers too had their moments. Despite my skepticism on whether their signing was a good choice (which oh by the way still stands today), #30 Jeffers and #9 LeBlanc still led the Slingers’ pride with 20 and 19 points, the only two double digit numbers for a Slingers player that night. Still one of my favourite imports, Philippine sensation Al Vegara was at his best with stable ball control and off balance shots (how the heck does he do that?) churning out nine points. As for Marcus Ng, the brother of Darren ‘The Doctor’ Ng, let’s just say don’t get me started. Maybe its me but I will reserve my comments until the Asean Basketball League (ABL) starts. Sorry dude, nothing personal.

The local boys although were lackluster in performance during the fourth quarter were great during the first three throwing tight defence at the Ginebra players. Their offence weren’t too shabby with #12 Wei Jian hitting five points and #14 Steven putting up four. I hope they will gain enough confidence to get double digits soon. What I really need from them is to make their decisions quicker whenever they receive the ball. That split second hesitation can be a bit detrimental to the team’s plays.

Left and right: Jeffers taking it to the rim

Left and right: LeBlanc lays them up

Left: One of Al’s ‘off balance – no worries’ shot | Right: Al cruises by Cruz

Left: Wei Jian taking it to the hole | Right: Stable yet somewhat wild shot from Steven (but he got it in anyway)

Left and right: Two of many million dollar moves by Marcus…but five cent finish

With just one last game against the San Miguel Beermen this Sunday, I hope the Slingers will up their game and complete the Singapore challenge Series with two wins and two losses before heading to the ABL. I don’t think the Slingers have ever met the Beermen in my recent memory but they did pop down to face off with Talk ‘N’ Text early December last year in a double header (here and here). Despite the disappointing loss on Wednesday, I’m still all Slingers and look forward to better games ~cross fingers~. Gooooo SLINGERS!!

Tickets are available at Sistic. I will be getting my hands on two pairs of tickets to one of the games so stay tuned for more on that.

Alot more photos in my Flickr album here and here.