Madarious Gibbs (middle) with a double-double (25 points, 13 assists) helped the Heat to a lead of 1-0 in the 2022 VBA final’s best of five format.Photo courtesy of VBA

HCM CITY— The Saigon Heat lead 1-0 in the VBA final series after beating the Hanoi Buffaloes by a score of 85-75.

The first game was held at CIS court - home court of the Saigon Heat.

Thanks to the enthusiastic cheers from the home fans, the Heat entered the game confidently with scoring by the Heat’s dynamic duo of Alonzo Stafford and Maddarious Gibbs.

However, the Hanoi Buffaloes proved they are not an easy opponent to beat when their local players Nguyễn Tiến Dương and Nguyễn Đường Quang Anh hit 3-pointers to give the Buffaloes a five-point lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, a decline in the endurance of Shane Henry and Jeffery Stubbs made the Buffaloes fall behind. The Heat took this opportunity to take back the game and scored 24 points in the second quarter, while the guest only scored nine points, and the first half ended with a score of 41-31 for the Heat.

Heat were successful when they used the double team strategy against the imported players of the guest.

The home team continued to control the second half, and ended the game ahead 85-75.

Saigon Heat guard Madarious Gibbs won the MVP with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 13 assists. With one more rebound, Gibbs would have made his first triple-double in the VBA 2022 finals.

Henry scored 23 points and had 20 rebounds, while Stubbs had 17 points and 11 assists. However, the duo could not help the Buffaloes to create any surprises against the Heat.

Meanwhile, Tâm Đinh had a bad performance, with only two points in 39 minutes.

The second game will be held at CIS on Thursday, August 31. VNS