Oh, how the table’s have turned since the last time these two teams played.
สำหรับ ภาษาไทย อ่านที่นี่
Hitech Bangkok City are no longer defeated.
Mono Vampires are no longer winless.
One team coming of a demoralizing loss. Another team coming of an iffy victory.
And here we are again for the Bangkok Brawl!
Let’s go through what happened in the last game for a bit.
Mono did a good job earlier in the game, playing a more free and flowing style of basketball and built up an 8 point lead while Hitech Bangkok City looked pressured and stressed out. It took an individual run from Freddie Goldstein to loosen things up on Hitech’s side which got the ball flowing to open up shots from Piyapong Piroom who made two big three pointers that got them the lead.
Overlooking Hitech’s side, that’s what happened in their recent loss against the Singapore Slingers. They got into a hole early on and while they had someone to get them out of trouble last time, help never came this time around. It didn’t help that they didn’t play anywhere near the level they had been playing. This was the first game where they were outrebounded (40-35). They shot 28% from the floor, which is the lowest any team has ever hit this season and they allowed the Slingers to shoot 48%.
You have to credit the Slingers for playing an awesome game, but you also have to point out that they caught Hitech Bangkok City on possibly their worst night.
The Mono Vampires will be a bit more cheerful coming into this game off a win, but I don’t expect them to be any more chill. Their win came off a bad night off turnovers and free throw shooting, which unlike Hitech’s woes, are things that they have been struggling with since the beginning of the season.
If the Vampires want to pile up on their struggling rivals, they had better be sure to handle the ball better. Especially going up against a team that is going to be more than hungry for a win to redeem themselves from last games loss and playing against their rivals.
Whatever the case, we can pretty much leave all of this aside as the both teams are going to be really intense going at each other and in a rivalry like this, we tend to see things happen that transcends the norm. Hopefully that results in a three-point shootout that ends up with Tyler Lamb and Ratdech Kruatiwa both making 15 three-point shots.
X-Factor: Sorot Sunthornsiri
It’s weird to peg a 21-year-old, third string, rookie point guard as an X-Factor, but what I do in these pages are always weird. As mentioned, Mono Vampires need to clear up their turnovers and Sorot has been a huge source of those. More than that, I like Coach Prasert’s confidence in using Sorot albiet sometimes ill-advised. It should have grown Sorot up to a higher level, and if he can repay Coach Praset for his confidence in this game…we might see him be the main catalyst to take down Hitech Bangkok City.
Bold Prediction
I’m not feeling bad about going way off for the prediction for the last game between Hitech Bangkok City and the Singapore Slingers, because no one saw that coming. So here I am with the inevitable task to predict the outcome of the Bangkok Brawl.
Hitech is more “fired up” than pressured from last game’s loss, so they shouldn’t be stiff like in the last game. I expect Hitech to take the lead early on and will get a comeback scare from Mono, but it’ll end up in a 10 point win for Hitech.
Games Details
Thai TV Channel: TrueSports7
Internet Live Stream: ASEAN Basketball League Youtube Channel or abl.mthai.com
Venue: Thungkru Stadium, Bangkok
Time: 7:00 PM (GMT +7)
Feature Picture Credit: Kuk Onvisa Thewphaingarm
Tones and Definition 