After picking up an 88-80 victory on the road against the Formosa Dreamers, the road tour of the Singapore Slingers continues as they challenge the streaking Hong Kong Eastern. The Slingers were not able to go home after their game last January 6. Instead, they flew to the Philippines were they had one practice session before flying to Hong Kong.
Singapore is coming into this game with confidence after playing very well in the second half of the game against the Dreamers. The win allowed Singapore to climb to the fourth spot with a 6-3 tally. Hong Kong Eastern is right behind them with at 6-4, riding a three-game winning streak.
The Slingers were lifted by the performance of their imports against the Dreamers led by Jerran Young who almost got a triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists while Xavier Alexander chipped in 17 points, five rebounds, and eight assists.
Singapore may have started slow in the season but the elevated play of John Fields has enabled them to stay in pace with the league leaders. Fields picked up another big double-double against Formosa with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
However, he will have his hands full in Hong Kong as he takes on literally the biggest challenge for him so far in Sam Deguara.
Aside from the big man in the middle, the Slingers’ defense will also have to worry about Hong Kong Eastern’s talented guards. Marcus Elliott and O’Darien Bassett have played beautiful music together in the few games that they have played but it was the scorching hot shooting of Lee Ki that Singapore must be mindful of as the reigning Player of the Week can explode at any given time.
One big challenge for the Slingers in this game is who will pick up the slack for Ng Hanbin who is not feeling 100% with a banged up knee.
