Saigon Heat won the VBA championship for the fourth time in the row. Photo courtesy of VBA

HCM CITY— The Saigon Heat made history again after winning Game 4 of the best-of-five VBA finals series against the Nha Trang Dolphins to become VBA champions for a fourth time in a row.

Heading into Game 4, the defending champion Heat led the final series 2-1 and had home court advantage. 
The guests played well, but Madarious Gibbs of the Dolphons missed two free throws in the last seconds of regular time that would have won the game and the Heat pulled out a 81-76 victory in overtime. 

The Dolphins, thanks to the effectiveness of Gibbs, jumped out to a 24-21 point advantage in the first quarter.

The Heat’s local players such as Dư Minh An and Nguyễn Huỳnh Phú Vinh played well in the second quarter and helped the home team lead 32-30.

However, the Dolphins showed their great skills to help the guest create a five-point lead (41-36) before the break.

After the break, Kentrell Barkley played explosively and quickly scored points to help the defending champions control the game.

He and his teammates found the Dolphins’ weaknesses on defense and exploited them effectively, thereby leading the opponent 57-50 after the third quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, the Dolphins duo Dominique Tham and Robert Sampson shined with an impressive scoring streak to help the Dolphins regain a 61-59 lead.

With less than 30 seconds left in the match, Madarious Gibbs of the Dolphins had a golden opportunity to finish off his opponent at the free throw line after Dư Minh An of the Heat was called for a foul.

However, the star missed both opportunities to score points, which led both teams to go into overtime with the score tied 67-67.

After a few minutes of struggle in the overtime period, Dư Minh An scored a three-point shot to help the Heat rise, and the team quickly took this advantage to win the final match with a score of 81-76.

Many fans of the Dolphins burst into tears when they saw their favorite team lose.

This is the fourth consecutive time the Saigon Heat has won the VBA championship but it is the first time they have been crowned at home, so it created a special feeling for the whole team and fans.

"Mr. double-double" Kentrell Barkley won finals MVP, and the foreign player had a phenomenal performance during the season, becoming the key player to help the Saigon Heat win the championship. VNS