Thailand, Singapore clash after big opening day wins

NONTHABURI (FIBA Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifier) - Another trio of games are up in the second day of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifiers at Nonthaburi, Thailand. Who will come out victorious?

Malaysia vs Cambodia 

Both teams opened their FIBA Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifiers campaign with losses, but Malaysia should be coming into this game feeling better with themselves than Cambodia. A young Malaysian squad were able to push expected contender Indonesia to the corner but couldn’t deal the finishing blow. It was, however, a bit more than what might have been initially expected from the team. Malaysia attacked the basket relentlessly and were aggressive from the start, drawing in 19 fouls and getting to the line for 22 free throw attempts. They will want to keep that going throughout the entire tournament.

Cambodia, on the other hand, took a 129-47 pounding from Singapore but we will get to know a lot more about them by how they respond in this follow up game. A bright spot for Cambodia was the performance of 19-year-old Sophara Chin who had 16 points on 7-13 shooting, but they will need much, much, more if they want to get their first win.

 

Key Matchup: Ting Chun Hong has not slowed down after breaking out during last year’s SEABA Championship. Malaysia might decide to rest him for bigger games ahead, but it would be nice to see him continue to get burn and keep his confidence on the court going. Ting might be a good test for the aforementioned Chin to further get invaluable experience playing against high level competition.

Singapore vs Thailand 

These two teams were dealt easier games in their opening scene, but one will have to end Day Two with a loss under their name.

Thailand were able to give everyone at least 10 minutes on the floor and they all chipped in with at least 2 points. If the game tightens up against Singapore, Coach Douglas Marty will at least have everyone on the bench broken in a little. In their first game, Thailand flexed all their muscles by using their size and long range shooting (16-34 from downtown) to finish with a resounding win.

Singapore relied more on getting into the paint (88 points) and pouncing on the break (40 fastbreak points) to get their victory. The team displayed crisp passing and chemistry, but the question is whether it will be enough as they face the host nation.

Singapore gives up size at almost every matchup aside of Delvin Goh, so they will need to continue to rely on playing fast to steal this game.

Key Matchup: Goh will inevitably end up matching up with Chanatip Jakrawan at some point and it’s going to be a salivating one that pits the big men of the future in this region. It might take more than Goh having the upper hand to get Singapore a win, but it will certainly be a good start that they need.

Brunei Darussalam vs Indonesia

The schedule has not been easy on Brunei at all. After facing Thailand, they will have to go up against Indonesia who came into the tournament as the cream of the crop of the playing field. Moreover, Indonesia will be coming off of what they might feel is a disappointing performance by their standards. That might fuel them to put in an extra amount of effort coming into this game against Brunei.

Indonesia spent too much of their first game shifting minutes of their key players, Arki Wisnu and Xavierus Prawiro, from foul trouble that they struggled to get any momentum going. The fouls also gave Malaysia plenty of opportunities to get easy points from the free throw line as well.

Brunei shouldn’t pose as much of a threat to get Indonesia in foul trouble again as they drew only 8 fouls and didn’t have a single free throw attempt. However, they were able to move the ball around fundamentally sound and with precision for most of the time. They still lack the speed to get the shots they want off, but they’ve done a decent enough job to get the ball to where they want those shots taken nonetheless.

Key Matchup: Ahmad Temizi Bin Haji Noordeen spent most of his first game trying to blow past Thailand defenders and as point guard of the team, he most certainly will have to do so again against Indonesia. Things didn’t end well for “Mizi” in Game One (9 turnovers, 0 assists), but if he can get the ball up and set things more quickly against the likes of Prawiro and Andakara Prastawa, Brunei will have one less issue to worry about.

 FIBA