MANILA, Philippines — Despite a turbulent windup in their elimination round campaign, the AirAsia-Philippine Patriots believe they can still make it all the way to the finals of the AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League for the second straight year. But first they have to solve the puzzle in the form of the Kuala Lumpur Dragons – the team they’re going to face in the semis which will be a best-of-three affair.
Thought they beat the Dragons in their first meeting, the Malaysian squad came back with a vengeance by beating the Patriots in their next two meetings.
Still, import Steve Thomas is confident they can snap their losing run to the Dragons when they start their series on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena.
“We’ve been practicing hard for the two or three weeks that’s why we’re confident of our chances in the playoffs,” said Thomas who produced a monster game in their 77-74 overtime win over Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma last Saturday.
He dominated the shaded lane by pumping in 21 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
He also had five steals and two blocks in 45 minutes of action as the Patriots finished three-round elims with a 9-6 record.
For that, the Patriots clinched the homecourt edge over the Dragons, who suffered a stunning 87-73 defeat to the Brunei Barracudas.
Game 2 is set on Jan. 26 at MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur and if necessary, Game 3 will be on Jan. 30 in Pasig City.
The Chang Thailand Slammers took the No. 1 spot and the homecourt edge throughout the playoffs with an 11-4 slate.
They will face the No. 4 Singapore Slingers in a similar best-of-three series.
After a 5-0 start, the PH cagers went just 4-6 highlighted by a three-game losing skid and back-to-back losses to the Slammers and Dragons, respectively.
Jonas Terrado, Manila Bulletin
