Abadan hold on to stay undefeated as Fubon Braves miss desperation attempt

BANGKOK (Thailand) - Naft Abadan outlasted a furious late-game rally by the Fubon Braves to hang on and win, 68-66. Abadan remains undefeated in the Group Phase and the victory inches them closer them to a trip towards the Semi-finals.

In the final 5 minutes, Naft Abadan led by as much as 13 points but scored only 1 point up until the final buzzer, allowing the Braves to make a final push to set up a dramatic game-winning attempt by Lin Chih-Chieh.

Hamed Haddadi came alive after a quiet first game, finishing with 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 assists to go with a great defensive effort of 3 blocks and 3 steals. Despite his gaudy numbers, facing against another 7-shooter in the Braves’ Sim Bhullar did give him some trouble.

Wwe didn’t really play well today because they gave Hamed a lot of midrange shots,” teammate Samad Nikkah Bahrami said after the game. “Usually he makes those shots, but today he was out of shape, he couldn’t make those shots. That’s why [the Braves] came pretty close.”
“He had like 25 shots, he never gets 25 shots.”

Bahrami himself put in 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6 asssists, and 2 steals in another superb outing.

The Braves countered by picking up their outside shooting and transition game in after falling behind, but the lead they fell into at the start was too big to overcome. Lin Chih-Chieh, who missed the game-winning attempt, scored 14 points and shot 4-11 from downtown.

Previous game leading scorer Bhullar grabbed 18 rebounds, but was limited to only 4 points on 6 attempts.

Abadan has a chance for their third straight win tomorrow against hosts Hitech Bangkok city at 18:00 (GMT +7) tomorrow right after the 15:30 (GMT +7) game between the Fubon Braves and Muharraq.

FIBA