The Singapore Slingers closed out 2018 with a tough loss on the road against defending champion San Miguel alab Pilipinas but now they are hoping to start the new year on a good note as they take on an equally dangerous foe in the Formosa Dreamers.
The Slingers know that Formosa is a tough team to crack as they already have a loss listed against the former minnows of the ABL. The Dreamers shocked Singapore in their opening game, 77-73, at the OCBC Arena no less.
What should keep Singapore fans hopeful about the Slingers’ chances in the rematch is that chemistry is much better now than it was earlier in the season. The team has fully involved first-time imports Jerran Young and John Fields into their system, making them tougher to defend.
In the first game, Fields struggled badly with only 12 points on 5 of 15 shooting from the field while adding eight rebounds. Now the 6-foot-9 center is averaging 22.9 points and 11.5 rebounds and is coming off a 35-point explosion (his ABL career high) against Alab where he went up against PJ Ramos.
While Young has also been steady with his contributions, it is still the all-around brilliance of Xavier Alexander that makes Singapore a dangerous team. He has been posting amazing numbers in the season as he’s only a shade under from averaging a triple double with 19.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per contest.
Against Alab, Singapore fell back to their same old problem of not getting anything from their bench. Their local starters also did not contribute a lot as Ng Hanbin and Delvin Goh only combined for nine points.
To score a bounce back win, the local Singapore crew needs to be on point versus their Formosa counterparts.
The Dreamers are coming in confident for the back-end of their homestand as they defeated the CLS Knights yesterday, 82-72, with Will Artino and Malcolm Miller combining for 48 points. However, the big question for their is their stamina as they’ll have to show fresh legs against the stinging defense of the Slingers even if they were fresh off playing less than 24 hours ago.
