ABL – It’s Slammers v Patriots in Season 2 Finals

BANGKOK (Asean Basketball League Season 2) - Chang Thailand Slammers booked their place in the ABL Season 2 Finals beating Singapore Slingers 73-62 at home on Sunday in the third and decisive game of their best-of-three semi-finals series.

The Slammers had won Game 1 81-76 at home before losing the away game 90-76.

The Slammers will now host defending ABL champions Philippine Patriots in the first game of the Finals series on 13 February. The Patriots had entered the Finals beating Westports KL Dragons 2-0 (88-83 and 95-92) in their semi-finals.

For the Slingers, their playoff journey came to an end at the same stage for the second successive year having lost to Indonesia’s Satria Muda BritAma in last year's semi-finals.

Piyapong Piroon opened the scoring with a three-pointer and the Slammers took charge of the proceedings, maintaining control to take a 35-30 lead at halftime.

However, Piroon limped off the court moments before the end of the first half and never returned.

That probably left the Slammers a little rattled at the start of the third quarter.

Slingers capitalised and scored six unanswered points to edge in front 36-35 – the only time they led in the game – but the Slammers proved they had enough in reserve to recover and regained control.

An 8-0 run put them back in the driving seat and they went on close the third quarter with a 12-2 run that effectively sealed the issue.

American Jason Dixon led the Slammers with 17 points, 13 of them coming after the break. Ardy Larong also had 17 points filling in for Piroon.

Leo Avenido had a game-high 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Slingers, all in a losing cause.

Marcus Skinner had 18 points and seven rebounds, but he also accounted for nine of Slingers’ 19 turnovers.

FIBA