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Reigning ASEAN Basketball League champions the Air Asia Philippine Patriots, sporting an 8-4 record so far this season, hopes to catch up with the current league leaders, the Chang Thailand Slammers, in the Nimibutr National Stadium in Bangkok, Sunday, January 2 at 5PM (12PM Middle-East time).
The Slammers, reinforced by 6'9 former Patriot Jason Dixon and led by 2009 ABL MVP Attaporn Lertmalaiporn defeated the Patriots the last time they clashed in the Ynares Center in the Philippines, 69-68, via a go ahead three-pointer by Piyapong Piroon.
The Patriots meanwhile, defeated the sluggish Singapore Slingers just before the New Year, 80-73, hope to improve on their performance after winning their first 5 games and going 3-4.
"We lacked the intensity and the defensive mentality after our previous win but hopefully we could be able to be consistent in those areas and also avoid the possibility of playing rusty because of the long break," said Patriots Coach Louie Alas.
With the return of former PBA import Gabe Freeman and the hiring of former Air21 import Steve Thomas and supported by the ever-reliable Egay Billiones and JunJun Cabatu, the Patriots hope to finally break the slump.
It will be the third meeting of the season for both teams (the first meeting went to the Patriots, in a defensive chess game, 54-48) and this will play a crucial role in their bids to wrest the top spot in the semifinals since the outcome determines the tiebreaker should they cap the 15-game elimination round schedule with similar records.
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