By Ian Chew

Slingers vs Air21

The Slingers may tower over their head coach but there’s no doubting who’s in charge. Here an animated Slingers head coach Gordon McLeod refusing to tolerate any lapses in concentration within his team. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Singapore Indoor Stadium, September 19, 2009 – Don’t be fooled by the huge winning scoreline.

That’s according to Singapore Slingers head coach Gordon McLeod.

“This is definitely not the actual level of play that Air21 is capable of. They have had a couple of days break from their season while we played on the back of a tough 12-game road trip in the past fourteen days,” he explained.

“They will definitely bounce back and we can expect a much more competitive game on Sunday.”

Despite a tentative start, the Slingers obliterated the current Philippine Basketball Association league leaders 124-86 on Wednesday night through a barrage of accurate shooting and tough physical defense. Shooting guard Darren Ng in particular shone with 28 points while playing in front of a somewhat boisterous Filipino crowd.

But coach McLeod refused to single out any outstanding player.

“We played well as a team and every player contributed. You can’t have a person scoring 30 points per game without someone else passing him the ball.”

“A lot of people would look at our scoring, but our defensive play was excellent today. We simply shut down their offense in the second half,” he continued.

The Slingers coach claimed that the much talked-about scuffle between his player Eric Sandrin and Air21’s Homer Se was part and parcel of the game though.

“The other team couldn’t stop us so it was natural they had to resort to physical play. I thought our boys responded well,” he added.

The rematch between the Slingers and Air21 will take place in the Singapore Indoor Stadium this Sunday at 4pm.