ABL Finals Game 3: The IMPORTant difference

By Jan Lin/Red Hoops in Jakarta

Though the winning team of the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) hailed from basketball powerhouse Philippines, both the coaches of Satria Muda BritAma and the Philippine Patriots asserted that it was the imports that separated the two sides and gave Patriots the victory.

“The imports [would] make the difference to how successful the team will be,” said both coach Louis Alas of the Patriots and coach Fictor Roring of Satria Muda unanimously after Game 3 of the ABL finals series where Patriots beat Satria Muda 75-67 to lift the league’s maiden title.

Despite a rousing start in the first period, where Satria Muda seized an early lead, Satria Muda’s American import Nakiea Miller suffered an eye injury caused by Patriot Jerwin Gaco half-way through the first period and this disrupted the hosts’ scoring momentum. Even though the 6-foot-10 American was reintroduced into the game in the second period, his role was relegated to just that of a scarecrow.

“I had to take Nakiea out for five to 10 minutes after he went down and even when he got back he was having problems with his vision,” shared coach Roring. “But I told him to just stand there, the rest of the players will feel more confident just knowing he’s on the court.”

“But to beat Patriots, that was not enough. We need Nakiea,” coach Roring said matter-of-factly. As it was, Miller scored only three points in the first half courtesy of the sole 3-pointer before he was wounded, and he found the basket only twice in the second half.

While Miller finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, his usual partner-in-crime Alex Hartman, who completed the inaugural season as the league’s top scorer with 378 points (18 points per game), contributed only 14 points on Sunday and blamed himself for shooting poorly.

“But to be honest, I am feeling tired,” said the 25-year-old who holds both Canadian and American citizenship. He let out that he has never felt such strain in the previous ABL games. “My team really needed me to push the ball in this game because our point guards were struggling and I think that took a lot out of me.”

“Hartman can definitely do better than this just as he has done so in Singapore during the playoffs but it’s because Freeman limited him in the finals,” said coach Roring. “But despite that, I think my locals have been able to play well not just in this game but in the last few games too – and also not only Rony – Prihantono and Youbel all stepped up too.”

30-year-old Rony Gunawan completed a hat-trick of stellar performance in the ABL finals by finishing as the top scorer of his team in the third game with 20 points and seven rebounds. Rony was coach Roring’s MVP for this game, though the Indonesian coach picked Miller as his MVP for this season because of his all-round contribution throughout the season.

In the regular season, Miller topped the score boards in points per game, rebounds and blocks, and he was second in turnovers and third in steals.

“But I’m still pleased with my two imports on the whole,” coach Roring said. “It’s hard to play against Patriots who have three imports (counting Fil-Am Rob Wainwright). Dixon killed us, Freeman’s rebounds, Wainwright’s 3-pointers. It’s hard to beat a team with imports like that.”

In Jakarta, Patriots released a living demon in the frame of American Jason Dixon, who top-scored with his season high of 28 points and also set a new personal best this season with his 59.1 shooting percentage.

Patriots import, Gabriel Freeman, who has been the man to watch since joining the league late in the season, finished the final game with 17 points, though with a personal low in shooting percentage of 22%. The versatile forward however dominated the boards with 19 rebounds.

“When you have a big man like Dixon who's so dominant, it takes the load off my shoulder,” said Freeman. “Because I won't have to enforce myself as much, and when he's down, I can enforce myself. It's vice versa for both of us. We take the load off each other's shoulder.”

“This game I played ok, I missed a lot of shots I would normally make,” said Freeman, who was limited to only six points in the first half. “I think I played my game in the second half, I went in a little bit more and was focused on the defense, I got going on the defense, that’s what I do.”

“My focus wasn’t really all out on Alex in this game,” Freeman added, “but at the same time, I’m a defensive player, so when I come into a game I’m going to be play defense but I still got to put points up. I think as a team we were more organised, we were more prepared. We were intense in the defense and the offense, we weren't making a lot of shots but we were just up and that's what won the game for us.”

25-year-old Freeman believed that being able to play with both the locals and with the fellow import is the difference an import has to make for his team. This he has done since coming on board to replaced Brandon Powell to rescue Patriots from a slump just before the playoffs.

Expounding on the difference he made for Patriots, Freeman said: “In a big way I did [make a difference] because Patriots have a big man, you have to play along with your big man and I personally don’t think the import that was previously here could do it.”

“When you’ve got a big guy, you play through your big guy,” Freeman said of the importance of the imports working with each other. “I’m not going to take shots away from him. I’m going to get him shots, I’m going to work around him, do everything around him. I’m going to make sure he touches the ball, I’m going to make sure I play defense for him.”

“And you know what, it’s really about how the imports play with the locals, whether they know how to play with their locals,” Freeman said in response to what would make a team successful in this league and especially to narrow the gap between the teams.

Likewise, Satria Muda’s Hartman also echoed that Miller replacing Theo Little in November 2009 was a spark for the Indonesians. But unlike Patriots, who have immediately expressed their interest to keep their imports, Satria Muda remain ambivalent.

“Based on the finals, I feel that it will be hard to defeat the Patriots with my current team,” said Satria Muda’s head coach Roring. “I will need more ‘bullets’, players who are sharp. There is still time to prepare work on this before the next season starts, so I will have to evaluate the current team before deciding whether to make changes to the team.”

Satria Muda’s top-scoring import Alex Hartman has revealed that he has a trial with the Boston Celtics coming up. In the meantime, he has rushed back to the United States as his grandfather is not well.

“Right now I’m just going to go home, rest, and do some training for the little kids while doing some of my own,” Hartman said, “I just got to get ready for the trials. We’ll see what happens. But now I’ve just got to take a break. Take three weeks off and just relax, get back my legs, no lifting, no shooting. We all need a break sometimes.”

No such dramas for Patriots’ Gabe Freeman though, who will start up with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in a fortnight’s time, and the question at the back of everyone’s mind is whether this ball of energy will return to the ABL next season.

Making a comparison between ABL and PBA, Freeman said: “The ABL is totally different because they actually play! It’s contact. PBA is touchy-touch, feely-feel, but ABL literally gets down and dirty, which is what most players like to play and that’s what keeps the game going. But it does get out of control sometimes but that’s part of basketball.”

“I would love to play in both leagues,” he said. “The ABL is amongst the best league I've played in judging from the talent level, and we won it, it feels good to be on top. It goes different on money level [between both leagues] but for me it’s not about the money, it’s about the basketball.”

When asked if he will consider playing for a different team in the ABL, Freeman said in front of his coach Louie Alas and team owner Mikee Romero: “I wouldn’t have a reason not to come back here. I’ve got a great coach, great players, my other import Jason Dixon is great.”

“They brought me in and they have done what they are supposed to do, I've done what I'm supposed to do,” Freeman continued and made known that beyond the basketball, integrity is just as important. “So I'm going no where, I'm here to stay. I'm loyal to who's loyal to me.”

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