Singapore Slingers’ season so far – a fan’s perspective

Contributed by Kelvin Poh

As I write this article, the Slingers are preparing for their game against the Barracudas. This is a big game and one which may decide how the season ends for five of the six teams.

If the Barracudas win, they secure the playoffs. The Dragons will be out and have little to play for against Satria Muda BritAma, and the Barracudas will also have little to play for against the Philippine Patriots. Both latter games are over the weekend.

If the Slingers win, they get home-court advantage for the semis for finishing second in the table and we go to the Thailand Tigers knowing that we are playing for a chance to lead the league and have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs if Barracudas can pull off a win in the Philippines. The Dragons then have everything to play for against SMB, as their qualifying hopes are still alive.

So it looks like it'll be more exciting for all the neutral fans if the Slingers win tonight.

How do we match up? Coach Goh from the Dragons has already given us many helpful tips. He obviously wants to help us to help themselves. The Slingers do not have a deep bench, but the Barracudas are one of the only teams I can think off with an even shorter bench with six to seven players being used during key minutes.

I like the idea of the extended pressure defense as coach Goh suggested, not so much for creating steals and turnovers, as many schoolboy players and casual fans think, but for running down the shot clock, so that there is less time to create set offense and more chance of the opponents taking bad shots.

Also there is fatigue. Basketball is an 80- to 120-possession game and decent players will make their share of shots. But late in the game, when there is fatigue and stress, shots that should fall don't, or shots that should miss, drop, and that often decides the games.

By now, there are no surprises. Everybody pretty much knows what the other teams are like, and what each player's tendencies are. The Slingers' performance over this season comes down to several factors:

Early preparation, which gave us a slight advantage initially.

Mid-season injuries to our starters – Al Vergara does not look fully back yet, but Kyle Jeffers looks to be okay now.

Confidence of and contributions from the bench.

Initially our bench surprised us and themselves. Many were relative unknowns, as they were younger (still in the Army or in School), and not well-exposed regionally. They came out aggressive, they played good defense, and they shot well, especially from three-point range. And they played with confidence.

But somewhere along the line, the three youngsters getting minutes became a little cocky. Taking 3-point shots indiscriminately (probably due to the early success), breaking up our half-court offense (being too static and always looking for their shot at inappropriate times), not moving the ball, and often times giving up good 2-point looks by taking the extra seconds to back up to the 3-point line and messing up good shooting opportunities.

You can tell when basketball players celebrate mundane baskets like footballers celebrate goals. Yes, you will get pumped up if there was a good play sequence, offense or defense, but not on every successful play. You'll be real busy and tired out by your celebrations if you hit 30 points.

It is a good thing this seems to be nipped in the bud, and no longer evident in the last few games.

Michael Wong and Steven Khoo, players who started the season tentatively, have gained (or regained) confidence and are now less afraid to execute when they have the ball.

Everybody knows that Al Vergara, Kyle Jeffers, Michael LeBlanc and Marcus Ng are threats, but when our bench makes plays, and have different "heroes" making game-winning contributions on different days, that keeps our opponents off-balance.

In summary, we play pretty decent defense. We are aggressive, but not dirty. Other fans may have differing views, but I like to think that I am fairly objective. On the day that our outside shot is dropping, we are a hard team to beat. When our outside shot dries up, it's a lot easier for teams to play us, as we do not have any one outstanding go-to guy who makes his own shot or has a killer low-post/penetration play.

But so long as we keep up the defense, and attack off defensive rebounds, forced turnovers, and on any given day, one of our guys (and we don't know whom) will give us a spark, that will carry us through.

Home court is going to be a key for the playoffs. On paper, we are 50-50 against SMB and so whoever has home court will have the edge.

The Patriots look to have the strongest team sheet but as our games against them have shown, they are not beyond reach, especially if we are playing at home. So the push for our final season results start this evening.

Make the Barracudas work hard on offense and defense, wear them down. Be disciplined and manage our fouls when defending their power players' inside game. Hit our fair share of shots (especially free throws), and let’s win these last two games starting tonight.

Go Slingers!!!!

P.S. At the time of posting, the Slingers beat the Barracudas. So it’s going to be an exciting weekend and all the games are going to be critical for the final league standings and playoff seedings.

Barracudas need a win at Patriots in order to secure a playoff spot. Patriots need the win to secure home-court advantage throughout.

Dragons need to win against SMB and hope that Barracudas lose to steal the last playoff spot.

Slingers need to win and hope that Patriots lose to top the league and steal home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Given that the Patriots have not lost (yet) at home, this may be the key circumstance to give us a fighting chance of winning the championship, if we get past SMB in the semi-finals.