SLINGSHOT KILLINGS

Heated action during the Slingers-Bolts
tune-up game in Singapore.

The Singapore Slingers of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is making a killing of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) clubs in recent tune-up games at Singapore Stadium. First to fall were the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters, losing out a lopsided 97-72 rout. Then came PBA’s newest kids on the block, the MERALCO Bolts, who went down by the score of 77-64. A bright note for Rain Or Shine is rookie Josh Vanlandingham, who erupted for 28 points in just 21 minutes of action. Slingers coach Neo Beng Siang said they started tentatively against the Bolts but were able to picked up the pieces in the second half despite the physical play of the Filipinos, according to RedHoops.com.

“We played well though we started off shitty. We were not too sure during the first half and we missed our first four shots. We were not running enough offense, but we did have a solid defense. It was well fought and they gave us a hard time.

“A couple of our boys were really under a lot a pressure. Especially (Wong) Wei Long and Steven (Khoo) who played well for the previous match. There was a lot of pressure on them and a lot was expected from them. There was just too much pressure on them and that affected their confidence level. (Ng) Han Bin really stepped up, though.”