Slingers and Dragons eyeing bragging rights in Battle of the Causeway

Stakes are extra high in Causeway clashes, so Slingers keen to slay Dragons

David Lee

Sports Correspondent

Mar 11, 2016 06:00 am

REPORTING FROM KUALA LUMPUR

GAME 1

WESTPORTS MALAYSIA DRAGONS v SINGAPORE SLINGERS

(Tonight, 8.30pm, Maba Stadium, Kuala Lumpur)

It could be the football rivalry, or the debate about who has the better chicken rice, char kway teow and chilli crab.

Simply put, throw a bunch of Singaporeans and Malaysians in the same arena, and you're bound to see passions running high, or beyond.

The Singapore Slingers' match against the Alab Pilipinas at the OCBC Arena on March 8 has been postponed.

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And it's the same in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) whenever the Causeway rivals meet.

On Valentine's Day this year, there was no love lost as Westports Malaysia Dragons coach Ariel Vanguardia was handed a one-match suspension and fined an undisclosed sum by the ABL for protesting against the referees' decisions in their 89-80 win over the Singapore Slingers at the OCBC Arena.

Last December, Slingers point guard Wong Wei Long was banned two matches for unprofessional conduct after punching Dragons' shooting guard Wong Yi Hou in their 78-71 win at the Maba Stadium here.

Dragons captain Kwaan Yoong Jing was also suspended for a game after confronting Wong.

It was another fiery encounter last April when the Malaysia national team beat Singapore 58-49 in a South-east Asia Basketball Association Championship match at the OCBC Arena.

Both Singapore's shooting guard Ng Hanbin and Malaysia's centre Koh Way Tech were ejected; Ng was knocked to the ground and Koh tried to humiliate his opponent by striding over Ng's body, leading to the latter's retaliation.

Tonight, the Slingers and the Dragons face off in the best-of-five ABL Finals series.

On paper, with both boasting a 16-4 regular season record and beating the other once home and away, there's almost nothing between them.

The biggest difference comes in the form of style - the Dragons lead the way in offence this season, averaging 93.2 points per game, while the Slingers have the best defence this term, conceding just 71 points per game.

Big Dragons centre Reginald Johnson, the 2.08m-tall giant who has contributed a league-high average of 22.4 points per game, is in no doubt that it will be another tough battle.

RIVALRY

The 26-year-old, who improved from totalling 27 points in his first two meetings with the Slingers to 69 in the last two, said: "Coming from America, I didn't get it at first, but now I do.

"It's a big-time rivalry and it's going to be a man's game.

"It's not going to be easy.

"I'm definitely pumped up for this. We know they are all about defence but, when we beat them 89-80 in Singapore last month, we showed that our defence is not non-existent, you know? The big question is, can they score with us?

"We took some time to get used to each other, but now that our point guard Jason Brickman has got the guys involved, we are skyrocketing. We are on a 9-0 run and we are playing big-time basketball.

"But we cannot get ahead of ourselves... because each game is different."

The writing was on their T-shirts actually: 16-4 don't mean a thing without the ring.

Vanguardia, last season's ABL Coach of the Year, said: "We want to learn from our mistakes last year. We were top seeds after the regular season but, due to inexperience, we were blown out by Hi-Tech Bangkok City 2-0 (in the Finals).

"We have been working on how to deal with the Slingers' transition game because they don't use to run and now they run a lot with (swingman) Xavier Alexander."

With the championship at stake, you can sense more than just a tinge of anticipation and desperation, that both teams want their first crown so badly, by hook or by crook.

Which is why Slingers coach Neo Beng Siang wants his team to find the right mix of aggression and discipline, the delicate balance between going hard and avoiding foul trouble.

PHYSICAL

The 48-year-old said: "We have to be prepared. It's a physical and emotional game, perhaps even more so when teams from neighbouring countries play each other and want to win.

"For this Finals series, the championship is at stake, so we expect more aggression from both teams.

"But, at the same time, we need to stay calm so that we can execute our game plan well. In that sense, the team who are more disciplined are more likely to win."

Slingers captain Desmond Oh added: "It's about pride. When people around us hype up the rivalry, we feel it too. I remember football's Malaysia Cup battles as a child, so I guess this is the basketball version.

"We want to win against every opponent, but maybe more so against the Malaysians. Of course, to beat the Malaysians and win our first championship would make victory sweeter.

"But we need to be clever, disciplined and cool. Once you get mad, commit early fouls, get fouled out, you are unable to help your team."