By Les Tan/Red Sports in Jakarta
There was no way back from an 11-point deficit for the Slingers this time with just 44 seconds left on the clock at the BritAma Arena. (Photo 1 © Dawn Yip/Red Sports)
Jakarta, Saturday, December 12, 2009 – The Singapore Slingers fell 58-67 to Satria Muda BritAma to continue their poor run of form in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).
This was the Slingers’ third defeat in a row and they now have a 5-4 win-loss record. After a 4-0 start to the season, the Slingers are now 1-4 in their last five games.
The Slingers trailed only by four points (31-35) at half-time but started to splutter in the third. Turnovers and missed baskets saw the Slingers score only two points for a long stretch in the third quarter.
Marcus Ng then lifted the Slingers with some drives in the paint but Satria Muda put an end to any Slinger resurgence to end the third quarter nine points ahead.
The Slingers were never in the game in the fourth and there was no repeat this time of their come-from-behind 61-59 victory over the Jakarta-based club last month. That was also the last time the Slingers won a game.
The Slingers trailed by as many as 16 points and were playing catch up for most of the game.
The assessment of the team’s performance by the Slingers head coach Frank Arsego was brutal.
“Last couple of weeks, we’ve started well but we can’t maintain the level of play. We’ve got too many passengers. Simple as that. From the beginning, we’ve worked towards a very team-oriented programme, and right now, a lot of people are letting a lot of other people down.
“It’s a difficult time. Until some people build their confidence, build their ability to perform under pressure, we are probably going to struggle for a bit longer until we solve that. That’s what I believe the problem is,” said Arsego.
“We are not consistently playing well under pressure and the other teams are starting to realise that, and when a team comes at you like that, you have to fight back, and I’m questioning whether all of us collectively, can fight back. Some of us are fighting back, but we can’t allow three or four people to carry the workload of ten other players. That’s not going to get it done,” Arsego added.
The Slingers’ shooting was abysmal – only 28% (18/65) from field goal range, 18% (3/17) from three-point range and 56% (19/34) from the charity stripe.
The Slingers are now averaging 61.6 points in their last five games.
Watching his team miss even easy baskets left Arsego shaking his head on the sidelines at the BritAma Arena.
“What’s difficult about making a layup? At quarter time, if we had made those baskets, we would have been four points up and our mindsets would have been totally different. The issue is, we cannot maintain our consistency. We had to fight in the second quarter to hang in there.
“We’re finding this situation, this is what I believe is compounding our problems: We work very hard, we might bag an open shot, we miss it. We come down the next time, we defend, we do a good job, we go back the next time, we get a layup, we miss it. We come down, they score, they might score three out of it. We go down the next time, we turn it over, and they come back and score. We go down, we make a bad pass, they get the ball and come down and score,” described Arsego.
“So instead of having points on the table that will boost your position, you don’t get it, and in the next possession you turn it over, that’s the end of it, we’re down another six or eight points. We have not been able to continually put scoreboard pressure on teams,” added Arsego.
The Slingers are scheduled to play the Thailand Tigers in their next game on Thursday, December 17th, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Game time is 8pm.
Quarter by Quarter Scores
Satria Muda v Singapore Slingers
1st Q: 15-17
2nd Q: 20-14
3rd Q: 15-10
4th Q: 17-17
Singapore Slingers Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BS | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Desmond Oh | 4 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 1/2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16:15 |
| 5 | Wong Wei Long | 4 | 1/6 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14:03 |
| 10 | *Hong Wei Jian | 7 | 2/4 | 1/1 | 2/4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 20:24 |
| 11 | Michael Wong | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:53 |
| 12 | Prasad Sadasivan | 2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:57 |
| 13 | Steven Khoo | 2 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8:55 |
| 14 | Lim Wai Sian | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Pathman Matialakan | 2 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12:55 |
| 19 | *Al Vergara | 3 | 1/7 | 0/3 | 1/2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 30:33 |
| 21 | *Marcus Ng | 7 | 3/11 | 0/2 | 1/4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 26:39 |
| 31 | *Kyle Jeffers | 21 | 8/20 | 0/1 | 5/10 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 33:54 |
| 35 | *Michael LeBlanc | 6 | 0/10 | 0/4 | 6/8 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 31:32 |
| Total | 58 | 18/65 | 3/17 | 19/34 | 19 | 25 | 44 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 200 |
Satria Muda BritAma Game Box Score
| # | Name | PTS | FG | 3PT | FT | OR | DR | TR | AST | STL | BS | TO | PF | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | *Rensy Morales Bajar | 4 | 2/9 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19:10 |
| 5 | Faisal Achmad Julius | 8 | 3/5 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 22:38 |
| 6 | Wendha Wijaya | DNP | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Amin Prihantono | 6 | 2/8 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 27:00 |
| 8 | *Alexander Gordon Hartman | 13 | 4/14 | 1/6 | 4/6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 40:00 |
| 9 | *Youbel Sondakh | 9 | 4/7 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 29:56 |
| 11 | Galank Gunawan | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 00:52 |
| 12 | Bonanza Siregar | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00:19 |
| 13 | Rony Gunawan | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1:06 |
| 14 | Welyanson Situmorang | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3:44 |
| 15 | *Christian Ronald Sitepu | 8 | 4/6 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 26:13 |
| 43 | *Nakiea Miller | 19 | 6/10 | 1/2 | 6/10 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 29:02 |
| Total | 67 | 25/59 | 6/20 | 11/18 | 7 | 29 | 36 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 200 |
Marcus Ng had 7 points for the Slingers. He was 3 of 11 (27%) from field goal range and 0 of 2 from the 3-point arc. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Steven Khoo goes up for two against Nakiea Miller (Satria Muda, #43). Steven had 8:55 minutes of game time. (Photo 3 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Desmond Oh contributed 4 points in a 16-minute appearance. (Photo 4 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Hong Wei Jian started the game for the Slingers and had 7 points on the night in a 20-minute performance. (Photo 5 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Wong Wei Long continues to struggle from 3-point range, going 1 of 4. He was also 1 of 6 from field goal range and finished the night with 4 points. (Photo 6 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Al Vergara played 30 minutes in the game but had only 3 points on the night. He was 1 of 14 from field goal range and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. (Photo 7 © Les Tan/Red Hoops)
Kyle Jeffers had a game-high 21 points despite an ankle injury. Jeffers also pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds. (Photo 8 © Les Tan/Red Hoops)
Nothing would go in for Michael LeBlanc from two- and three-point range on the night. He finished with 6 points from the charity stripe. (Photo 9 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Singapore Slingers 2009/10 ABL schedule
| DAY/DATE | TIME | HOME TEAM | VISITING TEAM | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRE-SEASON | |||||
| Fri, Sept 18 | 8pm | S'pore Slingers | 93 | Coca-Cola Tigers | 85 |
| Wed, Sept 23 | 8pm | S'pore Slingers | 67 | Philippines | 70 |
| Wed, Sept 30 | 8pm | S'pore Slingers | 72 | Ginebra Kings | 77 |
| Sun, Oct 4 | 4pm | S'pore Slingers | 71 | San Miguel Beermen | 65 |
| ABL | |||||
| Sun, Oct 11 | 4pm | S'pore Slingers | 87 | Brunei Barracudas | 69 |
| Sun, Oct 18 | 4pm | S'pore Slingers | 74 | Philippine Patriots | 69 |
| Sat, Oct 24 | 4pm | Brunei Barracudas | 80 | S'pore Slingers | 82 |
| Sun, Nov 1 | 5pm | S'pore Slingers | 96 | Satria Muda | 72 |
| Sat, Nov 7 | 4pm | Philippine Patriots | 70 | S'pore Slingers | 53 |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 5pm | Satria Muda | 59 | S'pore Slingers | 61 |
| Sun, Nov 22 | 4pm | S'pore Slingers | 74 | KL Dragons | 84 |
| Mon, Dec 7 | 7.40pm | S'pore Slingers | 62 | Thailand Tigers | 65 |
| Sat, Dec 12 | 5pm | Satria Muda | 67 | S'pore Slingers | 58 |
| Thurs, Dec 17 | 7.40pm | S'pore Slingers | 69 | Thailand Tigers | 66 |
| Wed, Jan 6 | 7.40pm | S'pore Slingers | 67 | Philippine Patriots | 59 |
| Mon, Jan 11 | 7.40pm | S'pore Slingers | 92 | KL Dragons | 74 |
| Sun, Jan 17 | 4pm | KL Dragons | 78 | S'pore Slingers | 71 |
| Wed, Jan 20 | 8pm | Brunei Barracudas | 89 | S'pore Slingers | 95 |
| Sun, Jan 24 | 4pm | Thailand Tigers | 80 | S'pore Slingers | 92 |
| Semi-finals | |||||
| Sun, Jan 31 | 4pm | Singapore Slingers | 87 | Satria Muda | 68 |
| Wed, Feb 3 | 8pm | Satria Muda | 74 | Singapore Slingers | 45 |
| Sun, Feb 7 | 4pm | Singapore Slingers | 76 | Satria Muda | 86 |
i told you guys, slingers are exposed!
Slingerock. dont play mahjong here!!
Injury was NEVER an issue here, look for other team like R.Larry with wrist injury but they won 2 straight.
Cmon Slingers. I urge all REAL Slingers’ fan to show your support by turning up FULL FORCE for the game against the Thailand Tigers and show the Thais what is the meaning of being ‘visitors’ for this tie.
Too many times, when the Slingers are either Home or Away, it does not make any difference as they are like the AWAY team.
For one, there would be a Singapore Flag being brought to the stadium by yours truly (have brought it when the Slingers played Satria Muda).
Let’s witness the Slingers get out of the rut and beat the Thais to put their seasons back on track.
CMON YOU SLINGERS!
Al Vergara is still playing with injury. Kyle Jeffers is playing with injury too.
The Slingers will only emerge stronger. We need to revert back to the team play like Arsego has said. No more individual glory, run the team offense well as a team and we can go for another winning streak. The Slingers were always strong when they played together as one, not when we rely on individual heroes.
Come on Guys!!!! Its a long league and then there is a playoff….getting out of a funky playing patch is part of the game.
Guards. We need to start hitting open jumpers. When we are not in a good shooting streak..don’t be too focused on backing out to the 3 point line. Focus on taking the shot where it is given up, and use the space/time given to get a longer look at the basket rather than repositioning to the three point line…and then rushing the shot as the defense adjusts.
The guards also looked a little static in offense (except Al V), lack of movement gave the opponents better defensive position to stop our drives. We can do better creating space for each other, before we take the individual offensive moves.
KJ kept us in the game offesively.
Maybe the pressure of being professionals is getting to them. It’s a first for them after all. Let’s hope they can bounce back but we really need to give our support.