ABL 2019-20: Post-Game Analysis – KL Dragons VS Fubon Braves
ABL10: ?KL Dragons 92 – 60 Fubon Braves?
We swept our season series against the Taipei Fubon Braves in style with a 92-60 win at MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur.
Determined to bounce back from our disappointing shooting performance against the Saigon Heat, we started hot from beyond the arc, scoring five three pointers in the first quarter to quickly get ourselves a double digit lead.
Taking advantage of the Brave’s center, Charles Garcia foul troubles, Will Artino had his way in the paint, scoring 12 first quarter points as we surged to a 31-17 lead.
In the second quarter we kept pushing inside the paint and through the herculean efforts of Artino, Garcia quickly picked up two more fouls to send him to the bench for the rest of the quarter.
Our push paid dividends as a sweet Cade Davis layup from a fake pass pushed our lead to above 20 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter. A shaken Fubon Braves were not able to mount any kind of offensive momentum and thanks to three pointers from Cade Davis and Ting Chun Hong, we took a 28 point lead going into the half time break.
Another Cade Davis three pointer started the quarter to quickly balloon our lead above 30. Midway through the third quarter, the Braves were able to mount a mini run as OJ Mayo and Tsai Wen Cheng combined to cut the lead to 27 to force us to our only timeout of the game.
Off the time out, we regained our offensive momentum as Ting Chun Hong nailed another three pointer to push our lead to above 30 again. We ended the third quarter on a 10 point local scoring run capped off by a buzzer beating three from Nicholas Tem Zhen Jie that gave us the commanding 83-47 lead going into the final quarter.
The game was a foregone conclusion in the fourth as both our sides deployed our bench players for most of the quarter. The final score ended 92-60 in our favour to push our record back to .500 at 6-6.
Our best performer for the night was Amir Bell who logged in his first triple double of the season with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Will Artino and Cade David scored 22 and 21 points respectively while Simeon Lepichev punched in a double double effort with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
It was a productive scoring night for our Malaysians who combined for 25 points, led by Ting Chun Hong’s 10 points.
Post game Head Coach Jamie Pearlman said “I thought the guys were much sharper tonight from the start. We played with much better tempo compared to our previous game. We have the quickest center and point guard in the league and we have to keep utilizing them well to keep our pace up.”
Our next game will be the first leg of the Straits Cup, an annual mini tournament against our neighbours from the south, the Singapore Slingers. The first leg will take place on the 14th of February 2020, 8 PM at the OCBC Arena, Singapore. The return leg will be on our home floor on the 16th of February at 2.30 PM.
The three time ABL runner ups bounced back from their early season woes and now have an identical 6-6 record with us. The Slingers most recently defeated the Taipei Fubon Braves 101-96 in a thrilling overtime encounter.
Featuring two former World Import MVPs in Xavier Alexander and Marcus Elliott and two potential Local MVPs in Delvin Goh and Leon Kwek, the Slingers will be a formidable opponent.
We have not tasted victory against the Slingers since 2016 and will need to click on all gears to leave the Lion City with the W.
Fans can catch the game live on ASEAN Basketball League social media pages and Astro Arena.
