Saigon Heat are ready for the semi-finals of the ASEAN Basketball League 2023. Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

Basketball

HCM City — Saigon Heat will meet the Singapore Slingers in the semi-finals of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) 2023 at the Nguyễn Du Gymnasium in HCM City.

The Heat finished top of the league with 11 wins and three losses for the first time in history. Behind them, in second to fourth, were NS Matix, Hongkong Eastern and Singapore Slingers, respectively.

With this result, the Heat will avoid facing NS Matrix of Malaysia, who are unbeaten in 10 consecutive matches.

The Heat and Slingers will compete in the best-of-three series.

The team with two wins will enter the final. The first match between the two teams will take place on March 6, while the second will be on March 8. If the score is 1-1, the two sides will play a third match on March 9 to determine the final result.

For the Heat, the clash with the Slingers will not be an easy match. Defensive play and heavy physical factors often make the Heat difficult, especially when they do not have many tall players playing in the central position.

Singapore Slingers's CJ Gettys is 2.13m tall and specialises.

However, the strength of the Heat comes from their stability and three points ability.

Along with the home-field advantage, the Heat are expected to complete their goal of entering the final for the first time in their history.

The opportunity to make history is even more possible thanks to outstanding players like Nguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh, Võ Kim Bản, Dư Minh An, Tim Waale (Đinh Khải Tâm) who have been with the team for many years.

These players contributed greatly to helping the team become the first in the Vietnamese Basketball Association (VBA) history to win three consecutive championships (2019, 2020 and 2022). VNS