Successful revenge against Hong Kong Eastern, Saigon Heat takes first place in ABL 2023

From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Of the three opponents that Saigon Heat faced in the 3rd stage of ABL Invitational 2023 in Malaysia, Hong Kong Eastern is the name with the most grace.

Coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students once lost in reverse despite leading the opponent by 14 points in the second stage, were completely overwhelmed in the rebound and helpless in defense in the 4th round.

Today, when once again confronting the team from Hong Kong, Saigon Heat has shown a very different face, more focused, more passionate and especially more effective.

The match started with a series of 6-0 points, the impressive goal of "Mr 30". But soon this effort had to receive a cold water when the Vietnamese-born player Hassan Thomas had an error problem. individuals very early on.

Forced to withdraw Hassan, coach Matt Van Pelt trusted Nguyen Huynh Phu Vinh and the Western player did not disappoint the teacher. Vinh scored 7 consecutive points for Saigon Heat with a 100% shooting rate, including 3 points to keep the game.

That's good offense, Heat doesn't really do the same in defense. O'Darien Bassett was hot early with 5-6 FG and played like an unstoppable.

After the first half ended with a 2-point advantage in favor of Eastern, Saigon Heat accelerated at the beginning of the second half with a series of 8-0 points, causing the opponent to call for a time-out.

In addition to the foul-trouble of the main striker McLaughlin, coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students actively kept the game. The tug-of-war was maintained until the end of the second half, the score 47-44 in favor of the Heat.

In terms of the rebound fight, the Vietnamese representative is still far behind Hong Kong Eastern in the first two innings. However, everything changed in the second half of the match.

With a smart and collective dispute effort, Saigon Heat won the rebound in the 3rd and 4th rounds even though the body was not as good as the opponent.

Taking advantage of the pedal is a solid defense, the Heat attack sublimated with the brilliance of a series of individuals taking turns scoring.

From Khoa Tran, Evan Gilyard to Jeremy Combs, Jairus Holder and Hassan Thomas all spoke up. The furthest difference sometimes reached 15 points for him 30.

The last round was an ominous time when in the previous confrontation, the Heat had let Hong Kong Eastern come back. Today that has been remedied with effective defensive tactics.

In addition to trying to control the main scorer of the opponent, Bassett, the Heat players actively disguised themselves and chose a good position to make Eastern constantly have to finish difficult.

Bassett personally has a successful 3-point streak in a row, but the effort of this 38-year-old star alone is not enough before the collective effort of the Vietnamese representative.

Shortening the gap to 9 points was the last bright spot that Hong Kong Eastern had before receiving the 3 points that ended the match from Jairus Holder. The final whistle sounded with the final score of 84-71, the victory and sweet victory belonged to Saigon Heat.

The duo Jeremy Combs and Evan Gilyard led the team in this match. Combs had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Gilyard scored 22 points (8-21 FG) with 5 assists and 2 steals. Khoa Tran and Hassan Thomas each scored 6 points.

Jairus Holder with 3 points at the end of the game had a total of 16 points with 7-13 FG. Nguyen Huynh Phu Vinh shined at the beginning of the game for "Mr. 30", pocketing 11 points with 5 rebounds and a success rate of 80%.

After today's victory, Saigon Heat has risen to No. 1 on the rankings with a record of 8 wins, 2 losses. Opponent NS Matrix Malaysia also had the same achievement as the Vietnamese representative but lost in the head-to-head index.

In front of the teachers and coach Matt Van Pelt is 2 days of rest, then the most anticipated match in stage 3, encountering the home team NS Matrix.