Chang Thailand Slammers take home ABL crown

Somewhere, Philippine Patriots' honcho Mikee Romero and head coach Louie Alas must be shaking their heads in releasing Froilan Baguion and import Jason Dixon during the offseason. As you may all know by now, the very same guys that the Patriots' deemed expendable (that or they were feeling rather generous) came back to lead their new team, the Chang-Thailand Slammers, to a title at the Patriots' expense.

In the pivotal and decisive Game 2 that the Patriots had to win because of two things; 1) they were facing elimination and losing the title and 2) it was on their homecourt(!): basketball-crazy Philippines! Alas, Baguion and Dixon played the foils with 19 and 15 points respectively, as well as another Filipino import for the Thai team; Ardy Larong who chipped in 15 (and a couple of old school-type cheapshots/fouls).

Dixon's replacement, held his own with 14, while Egay Billones showed the ASEAN basketball world how a shoot-first point guard will never be better/ or more valuable to a team than a pass-first one. And while Billones only had 7 points to Baguion's 19, Baguion did it within his team's offense (as one of the better scorers around) while Billiones failed to capitalize on making the most out of having the most athletic and ultra-electric talent on the floor: import Gabe Freeman.

Not to take anything away from the Patriots since they enjoyed a 14-point lead early in the game-- but they did look pretty much like an undisciplined team at times. Turning the ball over, relying heavily on isolation plays for their guards instead of for their strengths-- which is their imports who I believe, other than Dixon, are solid talents (Chris Kuete and those other guys look more like tall guys taken from the streets rather than basketball players).

Perhaps the Patriots took this season too lightly, OR that Mikee Romero and the rest of the ABL owners' dream of spreading the gift of basketball among ASEAN countries (with the Philippines at the forefront-- for now); whatever the case may be, the ABL looks like it's here to stay and is bound for bigger and brighter things (maybe they could add one or two more countries, is Chinese Taipei not an ASEAN country?)