Game vs Air 21 September 18, 2008
Posted by Darren Ng in Singapore Slingers, basketball.Tags: Air 21, basketball, Challenge Series, darren ng, Singapore Slingers
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We got our Singapore Challenge Series off to a great start last night with a 124-86 win over Air 21 (Box Scores and Slingers game report)
My thoughts on the game:
- Firstly, the atmosphere of the game was great. A good crowd turned out – don’t know the exact number (maybe 2500? I’ll check with Slingers), but pretty much all of the lower tier was full. There was good support for both teams, and it was a little weird being booed at your home stadium. Crowd made a lot of noise and a pretty good first up turn out.
- The game started out with Air 21 catching us a little by surprise. We weren’t really expecting them to take it inside on us, our experience against the Philippine teams in Brunei was that they are smaller and quick players who like to penetrate. So after the first quarter we were down.
From then on, we tightened up our defence and were able to put some scores together to take the lead. The game kind of blew out in the end and the Philippine team started to play somewhat outside the rules. Eric was pulled to the ground and kicked in the back and head in the last quarter (yes, actually kicked intentionally). The guy was ejected accordingly, but it caused a delay in the game as both teams regrouped. - There were some pretty flashy plays from both teams – Eric, Chris Daniel and Sam Harris all had some nice dunks (Sam’s looked like he dislocated his elbow before dunking the ball on the other side of the rim – hard to explain, you had to see it!). Santos (Air 21) got a nice alley-oop (over me – I was defending the ball in a two on one) and the Philippine crowd loved it, they stood up for like 2 minutes cheering.
- Our newest addition to the team, Al Vergara from the Philippines as a replacement for Jason Castro debuted with the team last night. A solid performance from him at the point, with great passing and knowledge of the game. He only flew into Singapore the day before and hadn’t trained.
- Air 21 have some pretty talented individuals, but as a team I think they lost their way once they were down. We are going to dinner with them tonight, hopefully put behind any bad blood from the game last night. Should be interesting to see what kind of game it is on Sunday.
- Some quick stats – Me (28pts, 6reb), Eric Sandrin (24pts, 11reb), Chris Daniel (23pts, 5reb), Blagoj Janev (17pts, 10reb). Santos had 24pts
- Our team all went to Brewerkz after the game for a meal (love the Brewerkz food!) with the high/funny point being Fitzy telling us about the time he twitched during his sleep and hit himself in the head. He re-enacted it so well he actually smashed his head into the pillar behind him. I was laughing too much to ask him if he was ok – good doctor skills eh?
Oh yeh, congrats to Fitzy and Jill on their engagement too.
Nic (highway blogger) has put up some pics during the game, check them out. Also, Jason has a great match report here.
Next game is on Sunday 4pm, come out and support us.
great insider report!
looking forward to the game this sunday. last night’s game was fun to watch, so hope u guys had a great time playing as well
i have to agree that i was impressed by al vergara! he played the team well altho u mentioned that he never trained with u guys till the game itself! great to see that.
anyway, see u sunday! looking forward to a great great season!
For the first time we are getting to hear the player’s point of view. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Al Vergara did well, I felt proud of Pathman too.
Oooh and congratulations to “Fitzy”, am glad to have him back.
From a fan back in Australia, great to see the blog and keep up with all the bball action of the ninja doctor. Good stuff, keep it up. Go Slingers!
Ninja doctor!!! Great post and thanks for the link love there
Frankly speaking, I feel both opposing team players and their supporters didn’t behave properly. I’ve nvr seen this in any nbl game. In e last Q, I’ve seen Shane has been sent to negotiate w them, so I thought something serious happened. Btw, I’ve noticed that u’ve had a chat w #7 from Air 21 during e game. Haha…
As mentioned on Jason’s blog, a pinoy friend whom I recounted the game to look at me with eyes wide open as if I’ve just come from Mars exclaiming something like “in Philippines, it’s not a basketball game if there’s no send offs!”
I agree that the crowd had something to do with the fiery play on court. It is a different style in asia, that we have had some time to get used to. I thought the refs did a good job of calling all the fouls, its just that both teams kept going at each other. I don’t know if all Filipino basketball is like that, but from teams we played it looks like it.
I had a nice chat with #7, he is a nice guy (a rookie for the team), like I’m sure most of them are.
All in all, I think it was a good game, not because we won but its really good basketball. Hate to say it but sometimes, sends off and confrontations does make a game more interesting. However, having said that, I wouldn’t want to see fights all the time and players getting injured.
Hope the dinner you had yesterday with Air 21 was fruitful and that issues were settled over food
See ya’ll on Sunday!! Oh btw, Darren…were you the MVP for Fri’s game?
ok. I’ll take back my words. Mayb tat’s their way to express enthusiasm. Btw, will u guys go for e game on Sun? Can i seat w u guys? Ppl ard me all not interested, so I have to watch alone…
Hi Jenny, we don’t know where we’ll be seated until the day itself. Where will you be seated?
I haven’t bought e ticket yet. That’s why i wanna ask u guys 1st. Which cat tickets have u bought?
Hillary, do u mind leaving ur email here? I’ll contact u using email then. Darren, sorry to use ur blog for networking.
Jenny, just go to my website and use the contact form, k? That will get you directly to my email.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Darren, really nice game. Have to get use to the boo-ing in home court though, as some filipino fans are there to support Air21 too. Anyway, I was there supporting the Slingers. I felt that you guys really had a good game and it was entertaining too (something that was missing last season) Cheers! All the best for Sunday’s game!
Our dinner went ok… We got to the place first and ended up sitting with our own team. Air 21 came later and they all sat together. The mood was pretty good tho. Will be good to see you all on sunday, come down and say hi after the game.
Hi Darren…really had a nice game last Wednesday…by the way, am a Filipino but a Slingers supporter…and a Darren Ng fan…been your fan since the first season of the Slingers in the NBL and you were still playing for Adelaide 36ERS…I like you because of your streak shooting from the arc…
I have a few photos of you, and Im taking photos again this Sunday’s game…I’ll just be on sidelines…how do I send those to you? Wish you all the best this Sunday’s game. Stay healthy and injury free.
To Jenny and the folks here, see you on Sunday and support the Slingers…you’ll be able to see on the court with a camera, I’ll be wearing a black Reebok “bonnet style” cap, and a red T-shirt perhaps.
Darren I watched your career in the NBL when you were playing for the Adelaide 36ers. Im a filipino and always loved bball. Just want to tell you that its good to see you play for the Slingers even though Im going for Air21 hehehe. I think that Singapore has the future in BBall compare to Australia. BTW there is this one time when I really hated you. When you played against MY team West Sydney Razorback and we were up by 20+points till you came on the court and made the 36ers catch up. Good Job though, just couldnt believe how fast u were that time coz u just xploded and I think Lanard Copeland was playing for u guyz aswell. Hey Darren I’d love to see you play in the PBA 1 day, believe me the game there is much physical than NBL or u should know youve played against them
Air21 is a very young team compared to other teams in the PBA and they have very little international experience…talking about Philippines basketball…I would say that Filipino style is a little rough…especially street basketball…it is where you really get hurt badly..and we even have a term “no blood, no foul”…im used to it, and am used to the rough kind of game..I have fallen many times, got bruised a lot but lucky enough to get any injury yet…cross my fingers…
But rough play doesn’t have a room in the international arena…all have to be played by the rules. And Air21, as a visiting team, should be more “behaved” than anything else…but their players are really skilled, and if they focus on their game, they will be fun to watch as Santos and Cañaleta are fancy dunkers and will really give you some show time…Air21’s #7 is JC Intal.
Darren, I need to confess as well. During the last game btw Slingers & 36ers, I hated u. Bcoz everytime u shot, u scored. Slingers had a huge loss. And I still remembered u hit Shane strongly and then he fell on e floor. However, after e game on Wed, after I’ve seen ur performance & contribution to Slingers, I became ur fan. ^_^
Hey, Francis. I apologize for my words. I guess this is cultural diffce. But I can certainly see they r all highly enthusiastic. That’s e good side.
Hillary, I’ve put my contact no in e contact form of ur blog. Do msg me when convenient.
Francis you should know that for us filoz, we will never take that attitude away from us specially when it comes to bball. Good luck on Air21 this sunday hope u guyz turn things around. But then again Purefoods TJ Giants is coming to town hehehe. Darren Ng and James Yap should be a good match up
Hi Jenny, no need to apologize…its alright. Filipinos are crazy about basketball…anywhere you go, you will see a basketball court, standard or not standard…would even make a ring out of a scrap of rebar, a couple of scrap wood and plyboards…couple of scrap concrete or sand bags (as weight)…and there you go, a basketball court…big ball, small ball, don’t care, we’ll play on the street, grass, uneven pavement…as long as there is space, we can put in a “home made” basketball court.
Darren, I agree with KC, you’ll be nice and fun to watch in the PBA… with your deadly 3-pointers…would bring the house down…and the fans of the opponents would “hate” you for that…
KC, yeah, Darren and James Yap would be trading 3’s…its gonna be a shootout…
Goodluck to both teams…
Hi Darren, nice blog! And thanks for dropping by Catholic High School at such short notice… we all really appreciate your efforts!
By the way you can check out some really cool photos of the game at http://www.redsports.sg taken by Leslie and Doug.
All the best for Sunday’s game… I’ll be rooting for you guys!
GoOd luCk, SlinGErs~~
See you on Sunday, Francis.
Hey thanks for the comments everyone. I’m happy to be playing for the Slingers now, and sorry if I inflicted any pain on the Slingers in the past while playing for Adelaide
Like Francis, if anyone has any photos, let me know and I’ll email you to send them thru to me to post up.
Thanks