78:58 
Sunday, 15th January 2012, 3pm local time, Thai Japanese Association Gym, Bangkok, Thailand
It’s the first game of the season for defending champions Chang Thailand Slammers and their season opener sees them playing hosts to the Saigon Heat, one of the three new teams who will be looking to take the title of AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League Champions for season 3.
The Slammers drew first blood right after tip off with a tip in immediately followed by a dunk both from new International import Kenneth Walker but the Heat came back with back to back field goals and then finally taking the lead through a personal foul on Sopheoun Oeun. Unfortunately that was the last time they held the lead as the season 2 champions were not about to let their first game go awry that easily and answered with a 7 point run the Heat just could not recover from. The quarter ended with the Slammers holding a 9 point lead over the Heat at 19 to 10.
The Heat seemed to find some rhythm in the next quarter, with Julius Hodge contributing 8 points from the field which helped the Heat to cut the Slammers’ lead by only 4 points midway through the second quarter. However, things got heated up for both teams
and four consecutive fouls on the Slammers gave them a renewed energy and they began to add to their lead. The new team from Vietnam seemed to have lost their equilibrium and halftime saw the Slammers leading 41 to 25 despite Hodge now the leading scorer for both teams with 13 points.
Unfortunately the second half did not get any easier for the Heat as the Slammers continued to show their dominance, proving why they are the defending champions. The Slammers’ big man Deandre Thomas is really making his presence felt, with monster blocks and some incredibly points scored due to his sheer strength. Thomas ended the game with a very respectable 21 points and 10 rebounds.
The final buzzer saw the Chang Thailand Slammers put in a very successful bid for the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League’s season 3 championship trophy with a 78-58 win over the Saigon Heat.
The lead scorer for the game however, is Saigon Heat’s international import Julius Hodge, who contributed more than half of his team’s total points with an incredible 37 points with 10 rebounds on top of that already impressive figure.
Saigon Heat were always going to be underdogs in this match-up and it was a very convincing win for the Slammers, who are looking good on the court and serious about continuing their run as AirAsia ABL Champions for another season. There are quite a few positives that could be taken out of the game for Heat however, as Julius Hodge is looking very dangerous on the court and with a little more time and experience, this team could certainly do some damage.
Comments
Post a Comment