Story by Jan Lin/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim and Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Micheal Leblanc (Slingers, #9) manages to grab the rebound. The American was playing in his debut game for the Slingers. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Thursday, October 1, 2009 - The great Ginebra Kings wouldn’t waste their words. We asked the coaching team of this successful and popular basketball team in the Philippines to pick out the Slingers who caught their eye in Wednesday’s game.
The coaching team’s choices were the obvious American duo of Kyle Jeffers and Michael Leblanc, Al Vegera, Marcus Ng, whom they had assumed was a local, and the ‘authentic’ local boy, Hong Wei Jian.
The coaching team of Allan Caidic, Juno Sauler and Art Dela Cruz said, “Obviously the Americans Jeffers and Leblanc, and Al Vegera especially, he's a good point-guard. He will definitely be able to help the team."
“Number 12 (Hong Wei Jian) is a very smart player,” they continued. “The left-handed number 8 (Marcus Ng) is a very wise guy. He knows how to create the shots all the time, he opens and takes the shot.”
Ginebra’s small forward, William Wilson, gave an identical selection but he singled out Marcus Ng as the Slinger he deemed most dangerous.
Wilson said, “The one guy I would pick out though, is Marcus. I think he is athletic and he can shoot outside pretty well. He's kind of sneaky!”
Kyle Jeffers (Slingers, #30) gets trapped by two Ginebra players. Jeffers finished the night as the highest scorer for the Slingers. (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Marcus Ng (Slingers, #8) going for a layup as Ginebra’s Douglas Kramer (#18) tries to block from behind. The left-handed Australian-Chinese was singled out by Ginebra’s William Wilson. (Photo 3 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Local boy Hong Wei Jian (Slingers, #12) driving past Mark “The Spark” Caguioa (Ginebra Kings, #47). He was singled out for mention by the Ginebra Kings coaching staff. (Photo 4 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Al Vergara (Slingers, #1) may be a Filipino, but that didn’t stop the Slingers point guard from putting his best foot forward in the Slingers-Ginebra showdown. (Photo 5 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Pathman too! Go pathman!
hong wei jian.
Our country’s pride.