Singapore Slingers vs Brunei Barracudas

Sorry for the delayed post due to a busy week and will be worse next week as my boss flies in for a visit. Anyway, first ABL match against the Brunei Barracudas at home and from earlier post, we all know Slingers won big 87 – 69. Both teams battled it out in the 1st half, and from the look of the wordings found on the compression arm sleeve of #36 Lim, I thought he was going to have to eat his words with the Slingers winning 20-13 in the first quarter.

But Barracudas' import players of #13 Michael Pilgrim and #45 Lonnie Jones were strong finding their touch in the 2nd quarter chasing back to almost even the scores at 38-37 . The turning point was the 3rd quarter where Barracudas had more turnovers from the heightened defense of the Slingers whom capitalised to convert 50% of their field goals. However, do note that we only shot 20% FT in the 3rd and overall only 38%, which is rather painful to watch. The boys really need to go work on their FTs especially Weijian, Wei Long and Marcus. The reason being they drive to the hole often and is expected to be fouled. Games can be lost from FTs either by close games or demoralising the team overall.

The Slingers played well with the locals pulling quite a fair share of the weight scoring 38 of the total game points ~44% of the total score. This is a point Slingers need to note - There is no pure shooter in the team this season. Previous seasons you have Darren "Doc" Ng who is known to pull over 20 points a game with a consistent .3-.5 3PFG. Michael Helms who is the go-to guy for shots or drive to the rims. Right now, we have a more even squad, but clearly we have no star player who can score at will or even a 3-point specialist who can draw the defense out to the 3-point line. Wei Long did that tonight and someone really needs to keep doing it. The Barracudas may have lost tonight, but that's because they did not have the training or warm up games that our boys have. They have since trashed KL Dragons away at MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur  76 – 94.



So Slingers have to continue to work hard and gel as a team drawing strengths and courage from each other as the locals step up. The hardwork and attitude really drew applause from the crowds at the end of the game. This bodes well for the Slingers team as more have come to appreciate the team.

But the highlight of the match and the weeks to come is Weijian's in-game dunk. This is my take on it.

Look at his intended lift! And after dunk fly motion...perhaps why he has a nickname of "Flyboy"

Check out one of the Slinger fan's fanatic video of it from Slingerrocks!



For more reviews and great articles from fans, do check out these guys.

Jase's great pics and review here.

ABL official post here.

Slingerrock's nice write up of individual Slinger players here. (Like the NBA comparison bit)

Gordon, whom I think has ALL the signatures of all Slinger players, here.

And finally Keith, who just started a blog with a nice layout and another great write up of the game, though he need more pictures and visuals.

For more pictures of this match please check out my photobucket.


Do join us this Sunday for the match up everyone is waiting for..against a possible #1 team...that is if the Singapore Slingers have something to say about it!