the(new)mediaslut

After two seasons with the Australian National Basketball League, the Singapore Slingers has announced their withdrawal from the league and are aiming to join the ASIAN PRO LEAGUE.

Wrote The Singapore Slingers Press Release,

When the Singapore Slingers tip-off for the new basketball season on Sept 17 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, instead of going up against the likes of NBL sides Melbourne Tigers or Perth Wildcats, skipper Ben Knight and Co could be taking on the likes of professional teams from Korea, Philippines, Japan or China instead.

This was after the Slingers management announced that the Singapore-based team has
officially pulled out of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), and will not be taking part in the upcoming 2008/09 NBL season.

“We had every intention to play our third season in the NBL and had recruited a team to be very competitive and more relevant to Singapore, with three players of Asian heritage on the roster”, said Slingers Managing Director Bob Turner.

“In spite of the team’s financial readiness to participate, the recent withdrawal of two key teams from the NBL has had a negative impact on our business model and led to an unanticipated increase in travel costs. When the NBL could not accede to our request to help defray the exorbitant and rising travel costs, the board of the Slingers took the painful but necessary decision to leave the NBL and pursue the possibility of playing in a professional league in Asia instead”.

Melbourne Tiger Thomas’ Hang Time

The Singapore Slingers were not expected to win their home match against Melbourne Tigers last night which they lost 96-105.

It was the Slingers’ low scoring third quarter that completely wiped out their hard work during the first half.

Slingers giving Tiger’s 33 a whiff of its strong defence

The Slingers biggest lead against Tigers about eight minutes in the first quarter was five points and they leveled the score at 43-43 when Grizzard (Slingers #1) scored two points into the fourth minute of the quarter.

Unfortunately, the Melbourne Tigers steam rolled the Slingers in both offensive and defensive after the scores were leveled.

The Slingers ended the first half with 47 points while the Tigers scored 55.

The half time break seem to have tire the Slingers rather then recharged them.

After Ben Knight scored at the third minute of the third quarters to make it Slingers 58 with Tigers at , the Slingers remained at that score for the next four minutes or so, while Tigers went ahead to score 10 points during that period of tiem.

During this scoreless period, it was noticed that Slinger’s Mike Helms took over the “ball-controller” responsibility from Shane McDonald, the home team seem to have lost their offensive power.

The Slingers ended the third quarter scoring 19 points while the Tigers scored 29 points.

The fourth quarter saw the Slingers’ getting more points with Helms returning the “ball-controller” responsibility to Shane.

Slingers fight back with a Helms’ special

The Slingers ended the final quarter scoring 30 points while the Tigers only managed to get 22.

Thanks to Nicholas Aaron Khoo, a few bloggers were treated to VIP box seats at the Singapore Indoor Stadium for the National Basketball League’s Singapore Slingers vs Melbourne Tigers game last night.

Precious from notesfrommyheart also challenged bloggers to guess his/her gender based on the blog posts. and winners got tickets to the match.

I don’t know who won, but I know Precious’ gender….

Is this Precious? Looks more like a media slut wannabe to me..
That’s Andrew of aplink.wordpress.com.

Precious? Nope that’s the sometimes
in distress damsel Qiao Yun of sheylara.com

Precious? Not yet.. Left Imran Omar of blog.thepacificwest.com
and right is Nicholas, wine waiter for the day.

Oi ATT, where is Precious? If you screaming that out, you are starting to sound like Gollum.

It took Gollum three books and more than 9 hours of movie time before it got his Precious, so hold your horses..

Left: Princessa of Sabrina.sg gracing the match
Right: Daphne of www.daphnemaia.com in the center

Bloggers with The Singapore Slingers

Bloggers with Bob Turner, CEO of Singapore Slingers

Drum roll please… Here’s Precious!!!

Overheard that for the next few contest Precious might be asking her readers to guess her age (which this blogger also knows and sure win one lor) and her sexual preferences (this one…. )

The Singapore Slingers woke up from their new year slumber to beat the Townsville Crocodiles 114-103 in a Australia National Basketball League ladder match yesterday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Guards Off.. Slingers No 14 Brad Davidson (left) vs Townsville No 4 Kelvin Robertson

Compared to the match on Wednesday, the determined Slingers looked more energetic and played with the purpose to prove their critics wrong.

Townsville No 4 Kelvin Robertson attacking the board with Slingers No 35 Marquin Chandler attempting to block

Leading the charge was Slingers’ No 23 Mike Helms attacking the boards and scored a total of 34 points.

Showtime! by Slingers’ No 23 Mike Helms

In the second quarter, Helms made a aggressive block shot that the crowd got could only cheer in awe.. Unfortunately, themediaslut was fast enough to take that shot.

Helms jumping tall trying to tip the ball into the basket

Townsville’s No 4 Robertson stole the ball from center court, charged downtown and wowed the Townsville’s supporters with 2 points.

Disappointed Townsville’s supporters booing a referee’s bad call towards the end of the game.

Show Time! by the Singapore Slinger Girls

It was a Harvey Norman Appreciation Night at the Slingers game and the Slinger Girls were dancing to the beat of the Harvey Norman tune most of the time.

The Slingers game provided Harvey Norman the alternative to another usual boring Dinner and Dance appreciation night.

Slinger girls adding an oriental touch to their routine

The Singapore Slingers lost their match against the Melbourne South Dragon with a score of 85 - 105.

It wasn’t the Slinger’s day as the shooting and passing were way off.

From the box scores , the Slingers made only 8 of their 23 attempts at 3points with a percentage of only 34.78%. The South Dragons made 28 attempts at 3points with 14 (50%) making it to the scoreboard.

No.  35 Ben Knight attempting a shot

The field shots also didn’t go down well with the Slingers. Of the 89 attempts, the ball went into the basket 32 times giving them a total shooting percentage of 36%.

 
No 23 Mike Helms charging towards the basketball. Made the basket and drew a foul. 3 point play for Helms.

The South Dragons, on the other hand, had a 48% success rate with their field goal attempts, making the basket 42 times out of the 87 attempts.

No 33 Ben Knight attempts a 3point but misses.

Clearing, for the Slingers to win the match against the Townsville Crocodile, they would need to improve their shooting percentages.  

Slinger’s Singapore player No 12 Koh Meng Koon was given the last 2 minutes for some court experience. Unfortunately with the clock running down and the Slingers team already resigned to a defeat, Koh had very much to do except for some ball control and a pass.

Koh challenging a Dragon player

Koh trying to squeeze pass 2 Dragon players rushing to double team him

What about the entertainment? The Slinger Girls pretty as they look also seemed to run out of routine as early as in the 10 mins of the half time break.

Strike a pose, girls!

An overseas friend commented the routines looked rather predictable over some time.  

Routine #1

Shake your poms poms.. Shake your poms poms.

According to NBL.com.au, Singapore Slingers did improve their fourth quarter game as they held the Taipan to a scoreless 6 minutes in that quarter.

However, it was the second quarter that gave the Taipan the win over the Slingers.

NBL.com.au :

The Taipans established a 10-point advantage in a dominant 34-22 second-quarter, which they held for much of the game until the final term.

The Slingers staged a thrilling comeback to start the fourth quarter, holding the home side scoreless for six minutes, before the Taipans pulled away to escape with the win.

Bob Turner, MD for the Singapore Slingers, expected a 4000 crowd average per game for the Slinger’s first season in the NBL.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald’s Jessica Halloran, Turner highlighted that it would still be possible for him to achieve that target.

"If we get to [the point] where this city takes us on, and the corporate community realises this will be the most financial [beneficial], most supported team because of the 11,000-seat arena, it will be the best place to play in the league, without a question," said Turner as written by Halloran.

"It will be the best place to play in the whole region."

Full story here .  

The Singapore Slingers is set to revenge their home lost against the Cairns Taipans away this Friday but Slingers’ owner Bob Turner hopes his team will show better composure in the last two minutes against the Taipans.

"Against the powerful Sydney Kings, the Slingers proved they can match any team in the competition and again faltered in the last two minutes to better discipline and composure by the Kings, ‘ said Turner.

"The Slingers are playing teams that have been settled and together for a number of years.

"The disrupted training in the pre-season due to injuries has severely hurt the teams development in the areas of control and teamwork and these are being addressed by head coach Gordie McLeod."

It was in the last two minutes the Slingers also lost the last game at home to Cairns.

"Briefly we lost to Cairns at home last Thursday in a game that had lead changes throughout but the Slingers faltered in the last two minutes to go down," said Turner. 

"Cairns was led by Martin Cattalini, Darnell Mee and the outside shooting of Anthony Stewart.

"The Slingers will need more output from American Marquin Chandler to combat the talents of Martin Cattalini, a long time representative for the Australian National team."

themediaslut has been asking many of her Singaporean friends why they are not interested in watching Slingers match when they play at home at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The common reply was that the team is made up of foreigners and the two Singaporeans, No15 Pathman and No12 Koh Meng Koon , are not playing on a regular basis.

themediaslut then turn the question around and asked if the team was made up only of Singaporeans, would her friends take the effort to go down to the stadium to watch the match, the common answer would still be a no and they provided the S-League as an example.

There you have it.. It should not matter if the team is made up of all Singaporeans or none Singaporeans, if you love basketball, you should go down to the next Slingers’ home game and experience the atmosphere for once.

PS: In a country like Singapore that is looking to breaking every record there is, it is rather surprising that the local media missed out a record set by Pathman S/O Matialakan when he played against the Perth Wildcats on 22 Sept 2006.

Pathman became the first ever Singaporean and Asian to score two points in the NBL.

The Singapore Slingers took on the Sydney Kings earlier at the Singapore National Indoor Stadium and was denied victory after a late charge by the Kings.

Left: The Q for tickets before the match
Right: Thirst quenchers..

Crowd filling up the Indoor Stadium as the two teams warm up before the start

Left: Sydney Kings warming up
Right: Singapore Slingers warming up their shooting arm

The Game

The Kings took an early lead as they took advantage of the Slingers’ nervous start. In the starting minutes, the Kings led as much 11 points.

Left: Kings drawing first blood
Right: Bad start for the Slingers

Bob Turner (Left), owner of Singapore Slingers, and Michael Johnson, operation managers, looking on at the match.

Left: Slingers’ No 10, Larry Davidson, stretching out for a rebound.
Right: Slingers’ No 8, Jeremy Kench, trying to block a shot from Kings’ No 10.

Brad Davidson, Slingers’ no 14, attempting a three pointer (right) and a lay-up release (left)

 
Left: Slingers’ no 23, Mike Helms, attempting a layup release.  Helms was born in the land of the Pistons, Detroit.
Right: Pero Vasiljevic, Slingers’ center and no 3, attempting to dunk the net from behind the board.

Quarter Time Entertainment

Right: Slinger girls with a Halloween theme.
Left: Slinger girls announcing the winners of the season tickets lucky draw contest.

Same same but different?

The Fans

According to the papers, there were about 2,500 supporters at the game. The highest so far for the Singapore Slingers. It was a good mix of local and expat supporters but a majority of them were from Singapore.

Fans behind their Singapore team

Slingers Fans getting vocal, despite the clocking ticking down towards a Kings’ victory

Post match autograph session with the Slingers team

The Singapore Slingers will take on the Cairns Taipans away. The next home match for the Slingers against the New Zealand Breakers will be on 13 December 2006.