The last time Hong Kong Eastern Basketball Team and Tanduay Alab Pilipinas shared the court, Josh Urbiztondo was inches away from sending the game into overtime. They will now battle at the Southorn Stadium as Hong Kong Eastern plays in front of its hometown fans for the very first time this season.
The defending champions are looking to surge further ahead in the team standings as they have a one-win lead over Chong Son Kung Fu Basketball Club with 4 wins. Alab, on the other end, is at the bottom as they’re still in search for their first win this season.
The most talked about topic after the first meeting of the two teams was the stellar play of Christian Standhardinger. The Filipino-German had 26 points and 16 rebounds in that game and he has not slowed down at all. He set a new personal scoring record with 40 points against Mono Vampire and has normed 29 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3.5 steals, 1.5 blocks in the two games they played last week. Because of this, he was once again named the Heritage Import Player of the Week.
Standhardinger will once again face Ivan Johnson who’s had run-ins with him in their first game. Alab’s World Import refused to shake hands with Standhardinger after the game, which could signify that the two will be setting off fireworks again, this time in Hong Kong.
Another interesting matchup in this game will be between Ray Parks and Tyler Lamb who are very familiar to each other by now. Aside from the matches they had in the ABL last season, the two also met in the Southeast Asia Games earlier this year.
So far, Lamb is having a better season averaging 24.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game compared to Parks who’s at 15.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.
Alab will surely be banking on the strength of Reggie Okosa once again as he has stood out as their most potent scoring weapon as he’s dropping 26 points on a nightly basis. Hong Kong Eastern, however, also has a firecracker in their lineup in reigning World Import MVP Marcus Elliot who’s averaging 19.8 points per contest.
It will be the second and final meeting of these two teams in the ABL’s regular season so be sure to set your alarms as this game is sure to be a hit.
