Comments on: Sharp-shooting Slingers cruise to 4th straight ABL win after 96-72 victory over Satria Muda

By: Slingerrocks

Slingerrocks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:06:27 +0000

@kettch, Dixon is old i guess. I think Patriots need to get a younger and faster big man if they want to win.

By: Slingerrocks

Slingerrocks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:04:23 +0000

@mart, yea you are right. The local media totally forgets the local players. This is because they probably aren’t even at the game and need to use other sources to get their info. Without watching the game, they bring with them the impression that the local players do not play well or do not play at all. The sports writer probably do not even bother about the stats like the one you mentioned below. Things are really terrible having a govt monopoly over the print press.

By: mart

mart — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:35:24 +0000

It’s very funny, there was a news article (a Singapore newspaper handed out every morning) on the SLingers victory over Indonesia and there was no even mention of a local player. The 2 American imports stats and Al Vergara’s injury was mentioned but I cannot recall that a local player’s name was even printed. Then over the internet, a Cebu (Philippines) news article was able to mention Hong Wei Jian’s 13 points.
How would the fans, particularly those who won’t read Slingers results in the internet, even know that the locals contributed in the game? Media should perhaps put something “Wong Wei Long nailed 3 triples – upping his league-leading 9 3 point conversions made”.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:26:37 +0000

@kettch Yeah, even as a Slingers fan, I expected much more from Dixon besides just making free throws. He looked to me intially like a strong and aggressive low post player.

By: kettch

kettch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Not quite the close contest I’d expected between two of the teams fancied to make it to the finals. Still, I expect Satria Muda to bounce back from this setback in the following games. The consistent heads up play of both Jeffers and LeBlanc is cause for concern for the Patriots. Jason Dixon needs to recover the form he showed playing for Coca-Cola in the PBA and Guandong in the CBA. As it is, his lackadaisical play will get him eaten alive. Here’s hoping new Patriots acquisitions Baclao and Espiritu can help plug the gaping hole in the middle.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:33:51 +0000

@ballergirl Hey ballergirl, there’s no denying whatsoever what a good player MLB is. Being the top scorer of the ABL says it all. Even since the start of the season he has been unstoppable, especially in our first ever away game, he carried the team to victory almost single handedly. For now, there’s some emphasis on the local lads because it is what is needed to try to bring more people to see them. The problem with many of our locals are that they don’t feel that our S’pore players are good enough, they think ‘I can be as good, why am I not in the team?’ This game was definitely a surprise because we hardly see two locals scoring in double digits (probably the first I think) which is a great achievement. That’s not to say Michael is not important, no no no, MLB even told me when I went to see him at a recent promotion at Crocs (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kZ5cvL9sz7I/SvAI0qA6ftI/AAAAAAAAAXU/hV15Y7jXn78/s1600-h/12937_166901988854_525478854_2930329_4435231_n.jpg) “yeah man, it’s tough here, some people don’t even know what basketball means!” Its a culture issue and definitely something we need to work on. We really really appreciate MLB and KJ and it is obvious when they get swamp by fans after the game (even after an interview with ESPN). I couldn’t even get a word with Michael because he was totally surrounded. I’m sure he hears our own group cheer of “MLB! MLB! MLB!” and I love his signature salute. Having a player like him and KJ (&Marcus & Al) will definitely help local basketball progress to greater heights.

By: mart

mart — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:15:14 +0000

Regarding the stats, they should sit down and review the tapes of all the games.
Perhaps the people in charge of taking down the official stat numbers did not have the luxury of instant replay at the venue to review what happened.
Each team normally have their own statisticians – but this is usually to monitor the points and the fouls.

By: Les

Les — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:13:56 +0000

We’ve noticed the discrepancy in the stats as well.

By: Slingerrocks

Slingerrocks — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:46:19 +0000

@ Redsports, it is not your fault, but, this time round, there is really something wrong with the stats given by FIBA. The scoreboard shows LeBlanc scoring 25 points, which he did, but the statsheet shows only 23 points. Jeffers had 17 instead of 19 points. For Satria Muda, Sondakh had 6 points instead of 4 points, while Hartman had 30 instead of 28 points. I think that is what ballergirl is talking about. Just the errors in the stats.

Here’s a photo of the accurate stats: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L7tYKfzb9KA/Su24zSjoffI/AAAAAAAABEY/r_8837ahvJ4/s1600-h/IMG_1185.JPG

By: mart

mart — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:15:03 +0000

How’s the crowd attendance?

I did not see any schedule in ESPN and StarSports.

The timing of Al’s injury is a lucky one for the Slingers. It’s better to have it in the middle of the season than at the start and hopefully at the end…. a 4-0 record is a great cushion at this point.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:42:06 +0000

@moh Yeah, the guys will definitely be getting more overseas, blame it on our culture, it’s just way to ‘soft’. If there’s no abusive language, it probably won’t be heckling at all anyway but I agree that there should not be any personal attack on the family, I haven’t seen any in SIS anyway.

By: moh

moh — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:34:42 +0000

Fantastic game by the slingers! Absolutely a massive improvement from their last home game – great to see that they have been working really hard. Could notice the confidence in all the players and the energy level was at a new all-time high. Would be great to see a bit more discipline with the ball and fewer turnovers. Pity about Al, hope its not serious and he recovers by the weekend. Anyway, now that the attitude and confidence is in place, hoping for consistency in performance from now on.

@kevin – heckling is part of the game as long as there is no abusive language, no personal attacks on the player and his family, no abusive gestures – it is a family environment after all and there are kids present. Slinger fans never cross the line as far as I can see. From what I have seen of the pinoy fans at the SIS, I am sure the slingers will be getting worse treatment overseas compared to what we dish out to visiting teams – so no need to feel sorry for the opposing teams over here

By: Video

Video — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:00:37 +0000

Hi Ballergirl, great to see you supporting the Slingers too! By the way, our imports are really not neglected. I’ve made a fan video (my own effort) to make the point that the American imports are not slighted, but recognised by our local supporters here. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JooduEC1rKk
Hope you like it!
By the way, Michael LeBlanc’s video is half-way done!

By: Slingerrocks

Slingerrocks — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:48:35 +0000

If I watch the game with my eyes, the American Imports have been really good. KJ is extremely good. Best Import in the ABL. We seriously don’t deserve such a good player on our team, hello, someone who played for Euroleague, 2nd best league in the world. MLB had been pretty good on his scoring too. We have to give them the credit.

But I normally watch the game with my heart. And my heart goes out to the local players who have performed way beyond expectations. Last year they got a whooping from the Philippines Harbour team by 40 points. Early this year, a whooping from the philippines national team, by 40 points. And now, they are showing signs that they can compete with the best local players in ASEAN. THIS IS AN ACHIEVEMENT!!!

Pathman, Weijian, WeiLong are all PBA standards. They are definitely comparable to PBA players or are even better now. This is not an opinion. This is a FACT!

By: Les

Les — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:46:34 +0000

@ballergirl: You wrote: THIS was the ONLY sentence about our teamâ€™s top scorer in the game who not to mention WAS player of the week from ABL but cant get recognized on THIS site. PICKING AND CHOOSING what you copy and paste hu??

First of all, we don’t “copy and paste”. We are not that kind of site. We WRITE our own stuff.

What player of the week? Is there such an award in the ABL? We are not aware.

If you are saying that we are not highlighting LeBlanc’s performance enough – would you like a separate post? – you can contribute one yourself. At Red Sports, “You send it, we post it.”

In the meantime, LeBlanc’s team leading contribution is always mentioned in every single story we’ve done on the Slingers.

If it was a Singaporean local who had a team leading contribution, it would have been highlighted as well.

We are quite aware the Americans are way better than the locals and the locals on the Slingers team are intelligent enough to see that too.

I do not think any sensible Singaporean observer of the team will deny that as well, much less the Red Crew.

So give us a little credit when we put together these reports – the only reports on this island or on the world wide web in English that you will ever get to read about of the Americans on the team, by the way.

We support their much-needed presence on the Slingers but don’t drive an unnecessary and unneeded wedge between the local fans and the American imports with an over the top, in our face, support of the Americans.

You make it sound like the local players don’t get along with the Americans or that the Red Crew is diminishing the contributions of the Americans.

I do not think that is true in either case.

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:38:26 +0000

Hey ballergirl….chill on the locals vs imports comments. Of course the imports are better players and are more gifted physically…..otherwise they would not be imported would they??

Non of these individuals are bballer household names (yet) so give it some time for the supporters to get to know them and come to “love” them.

The local players already have a following from their schools, clubs and the national teams…and it is exciting for us to have our boys involved in professional bball…and playing real roles on the roster and not just making up the numbers.

Respect in our house….okay?

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:28:26 +0000

There was one guy sitting near me that is responsible for most of the heckling…Hartman got most of it as he was the clear threat from the opposite team..and he tried to react to the big loss on court. Same heckler also gave Camaso a bad time when Brunei played and this player took and gave some hard fouls. Then a group of youngsters took up the theme and heckled Hartman. I am not for the idea of heckling…..but arguably they bought a ticket and it makes the mmore involved in the proceedings. Put it in a positive way….its a backhanded recognition of these opposing players making an impact on the games.

On a more positive note…..its good to see our defensive intensity…team rebounding and good execution on offense. Most of the Singaporean players work very hard on defense. Pathman is still lazy (has always been)…but much better than when he plays on the local scene. This will rub off on our younger players..and is building up a good foundation for basketball fundementals in Singapore. That alone is worth supporting and will keep me buying tickets to support the slingers.

By: ballergirl

ballergirl — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:24:48 +0000

(Michael LeBlanc had 9 of his team-high 23 points in the first period as the Slingers never trailed throughout the entire match.) Actually LeBlanc had 25 pts so WHOEVER is doing the stats NEEDS to get together with the person doing the totals on the scoreboard and get things strait!! Not only that Jeffers and LeBlanc look NOTHING alike so STOP giving Jeffers Leblancs points or mistaken who is taking the shot attempts. To bad LeBlanc cant inherit some of Jeffers rebounds! lol BUT like i was saying in this WHOLE article THIS was the ONLY sentence about our team’s top scorer in the game who not to mention WAS player of the week from ABL but cant get recognized on THIS site. PICKING AND CHOOSING what you copy and paste hu?? wooow but IF it was a LOCAL you would have been the first to put it up and make it known!!! PLEASE TAKE NOTE…YOUR imports have put YEARS of blood, sweat and tears into perfecting thier games so a little credit would be lovely.
@Gordon YOU ARE SO RIGHT it is to early to tell but by watching and following this team THEY ALL have WHAT it takes to go all the way..BUT they have to continue to learn from eachother and KNOW its NOT a ONE MAN SPORT..its a team effort. IF you want to make your locals GREAT show and lead by example that you are NOT to good to LEARN from some of the GREATS…be humble..ISNT THAT WHATS TAUGHT??????????????????

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:57:26 +0000

@Harry It’s never good to expect too much too soon. It’s a slow process, we’re trying to win the ABL while at the same time nurture the local players. The 4 imports are important not just for games, but also as mentors for the players on how to make it in the professional game. It’s still early and some of our locals are still really young, give it some time.

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:23:57 +0000

The local players shine but not better than jeffers and leblanc.

Maybe we can get a local squad that shine more than foreigners if we can nurture local players from young. Having a youth squad for the club, maybe!!