JOHOR BAHRU (Malaysia) - It's all systems go now in this city as the highly awaited Basketball Champions League Asia-East 2026 Final 6 finally gets rolling this Tuesday night at the Arena Larkin Indoor Stadium.
Much of the attention is on Johor being the gracious hosts of this season's culminating event, and they would be tested right away as the home team takes on the Chinggis Broncos at the 20:00 nightcap.
As is known, the Mongolian powerhouse are the league's defending champions, and would want no less than a victory in their first game - keen as well on building off a dramatic end to the recent Group Phase.
Following an uncharacteristic four-game losing slide, reigning MVP Ian Miller & Co. put together their best outing yet and blew out New Taipei in the final game of the preliminaries to complete the Final 6 picture.
It was the Broncos of old that showed up at the MBank Arena, with Azbayar Altangerel and Barsbold Baatar Erdene coming through with solid performance to make sure that their title defense remains alive.
Momentum is on their side, for sure, but it's not lost on them that they're bound for a tough opener ahead against a Southern Tigers team looking to make full use of homecourt advantage to pull off the upset.
They've proven already how different it is playing in their own lair when JST dealt Dewa United Banten their first loss of the season after a 3-0 start, and they would want to emulate as much versus the Broncos.
Opening the Final 6 2026 festivities at 17:00 local time would be Group B competitors South China Athletic and Hi-Tech Basketball Club in a meeting between the HKA1 and Basketball Thai League representatives.
Of course, much of the focus is on the squad from South East, as they've been hoping that the third time really is the charm after falling short in their bid of qualifying for the BCL Asia proper in the last two years.
It's actually turning out to be a promising campaign this time around for Freddie Lish & Co., as they finished as the no. 2 seed in Group A with an even 3-3 record - that, after failing to advance to the Final 4 in 2025.
But definitely, their foes wouldn't want to be a footnote, keen on pulling off a victory for a triumphant start to their bid of bringing Hong Kong, China to the continent's highest club competition after over 20 years.
The two other Final 6 teams will see action on Tuesday, with Taoyuan Pauian taking on Hi-Tech at 17:00 before Dewa United and the Broncos slug it out at 20:00 in another pair of high-level matches.
The Pilots are coming in as the lone undefeated team of the season after going a perfect in Group B with a 6-0 record, and they have zero plans of relaxing anytime soon given how hungry they are to win it all.
It could be recalled that the P. League+ outfit swept its way to the Final last year, but failed to get the job done as they bowed to the Broncos, with Miller starring in the clincher en route to winning MVP honors.
Dewa United, on the other hand, are looking to sustain momentum from their top-seed finish in Group A of the Group Phase, hoping as well to go all the way and bring Indonesia back to the tournament proper.
The BCL Asia-East 2026 Final 6 Group Phase will run from May 19 to 21. Click here to know more.
FIBA