The AirAsia Philippine Patriots are in for a tough grind this week, and coach Louie Alas needs to whip his wards back to their old forms and stay on track for a second title. Alas expects a determined Malaysian crew to show up when the defending champion Patriots battle the Westports Kuala Lumpur Dragons at the start of the AirAsia Asean Basketball League semifinals this weekend.
“Our defensive toughness, that’s what we have to work on the whole week,” said Alas. “We heard that the Malaysians are very confident.”
Game 1 of the best-of-three series is set at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Chang Thailand Slammers, who topped the eliminations with an 11-4 record, battle the Singapore Slingers in the other semifinal series on Saturday in Bangkok.
The Patriots clinched the No.2 spot and the semifinal bonus with a 9-6 slate after outlasting Indonesia Satria Muda BritAma in overtime, 77-74, on the final day of eliminations Saturday night in Jakarta.
Both the Slammers and the Patriots secured homecourt advantage as an incentive for the top two seeds in the eliminations.
But the Dragons go into the semifinals in high spirits, having beaten the Patriots twice in three meetings in the eliminations.
“I think our imports won’t be outplayed, so the performance of our locals will be crucial,” said Alas.
American imports Gabe Freeman and Steve Thomas are expected to lead the Patriots along with Egay Billones, Warren Ybañez, Chito Jaime, Benedict Fernandez and Junjun Cabatu.
“I didn’t see any improvement [defense-wise] from our last game,” said Alas. “We were leading by 10 against Indonesia, but we had a meltdown. We can do a lot better.”
Jasmine Payo, Phil. Daily Inquirer
