The second week of the ABL saw the season debut of two teams, Mono Vampire Basketball Club and Westports Malaysia Dragons locked horns in what turned out to be an instant ABL classic. Aside from those two squads, Chongson Kung-Fu continued to flex their muscles, and the Singapore Slingers bounced back nicely after a loss to start their campaign.
To the Week 2 Power Rankings we go!
- Chongson Kung-Fu (Record: 2-0)
Previous Week: 3
Another week, another blowout victory for the first ever ABL squad from China. World Import Justin Howard reminded everyone just how dominant he can be, while Anthony Tucker notched a triple-double in only his second game in the league. His 18 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists performance is already one of the best in the young season. Chongson will now try to slow down Marcus Marshall, as they travel to Kuala Lumpur for their first road game of the season against the Westports Malaysia Dragons
- Westports Malaysia Dragons (Record: 1-0)
Previous Week: Unranked
Where were you when Marcus Marshall went supernova in Bangkok City?
The supremely talented World Import of the Dragons was unstoppable, en route to the biggest scoring performance in league history with 60 points. And that was his debut performance! But what has to be encouraging for Coach Chris Thomas and the rest of the Dragons was how confident local players like Ivan Yeo and Kuek Tian Yuan looked in scoring and defending. Even without Solomon Jones, they were able to provide ample support to withstand a double overtime game and come out with a win.
Now they have to take it a notch higher against the league leading Chongson Kung-Fu. What does Marshall have in store for all of us this week?
- Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team (Record: 1-0)
Previous Week: 1
The reigning champions had the week off, and will be plunging back into action against the CLS Knights on December 3 at Surabaya, Indonesia. Heritage Import Christian Standhardinger was adjudged Week 1 Player of the Week, while fellow imports Marcus Elliott and Tyler Lamb can rest some bumps and bruises accumulated in their riveting win versus Alab Pilipinas.
- Singapore Slingers (Record 1-1)
Previous Week: 6
Apparently all the Slingers needed to look like their old selves was a return to the Lion City, as the friendly confines of the OCBC Arena saw the squad pick up a win versus the CLS Knights. Xavier Alexander was back to his X-Man ways with a well-rounded 27 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
The locals also looked much better, as promising big man Russel Low finished in double digits by 10 points. Delvin Goh also rocked the OCBC Arena as he elevated for a throwdown over World Import Evan Brock. After a shaky start, the Slingers look to be back to their usual form again.
- CLS Knights (Record 1-1)
Previous Week: 2
The Knights failed to win their second game of the young season against the Slingers, but they’ve had to adjust on the fly to unfortunate circumstances. They only had a few days to incorporate new World Import Evan Brock in the lineup after an injury sidelined their original choice Duke Crews. He did pace the Knights with 21 points, but it wasn’t in the beautiful flow that the Knights diplayed against the Formosa Dreamers in their dominating win.
But a few more days of practice under their belts should lead to a much better effort. They have a busy schedule as they travel to Bangkok to take on Mono Vampire in Thailand on Wednesday before returning back home to take on the defending champions Hong Kong Eastern. Will they right the ship in time?
- Mono Vampire Basketball Club (Record 0-1)
Previous Week: Unranked
Under different circumstances, Mono Vampire should be in the win column right now. It’s just their luck that they were on the opposite end of a red hot Marcus Marshall. The double OT loss must be stinging them right now, but there are still a lot of positives. Jason Brickman is still an awesome and unselfish lead guard, and Reggie Johnson is back to terrorizing opposing frontlines in the ABL. Couple that with a bit more contributions from locals Chitchai Ananti, Ratdech Kruatiwa and Darongpan Apiromvilaichai, and they should be fine. The showdown with the Knights of Indonesia should be a good acid test to see if they’ve learned from their mistakes.
- Alab Pilipinas (Record 0-1)
Previous Week: 4
The Philippine-based squad has been frothing at the mouth to bounce back from their loss to Hong Kong, and they’ll finally get their chance after a week of inactivity.
Last season, Alab Pilipinas’ season ended at the hands of the Singapore Slingers, as they were swept in two games in the Semis. Bobby Ray Parks was injured in the second game and had to watch his teammates battle and fall without him. Now he gets his chance for a measure of revenge.
Can Alab get their first win of the season against their Singaporean tormentors?
- Formosa Dreamers (Record 0-2)
Previous Week: 5
It’s still early, but its clear that the Formosa Dreamers have a lot of issues that they need to work on. After a second straight blowout loss, this time to Chongson Kung-Fu, the Dreamers have now lost both games by an average of 24 points. That’s a worrying start. Lenny Daniel has been rock solid yet again, but Jaleel Cousins struggled with Chongson Kung Fu’s size, shooting only 4/16 from the field. They also need to find a way to get some stops, as teams are averaging 90 points against them. With a week off before their next game, the team should have an opportunity to figure out how to play together better. This could be a different looking team in Saigon on December 9.
The Saigon Heat have yet to make their season debut, which is scheduled on December 9. As a result, they are still unranked in our ABL Power Rankings.
