Saigon Heat are ready for the semi-finals of the ASEAN Basketball League 2023. (Photo: thethaovanhoa.vn) Saigon Heat finished top of the league with 11 wins and threelosses for the first time in history. Behind them, in second to fourth, were NSMatix, Hongkong Eastern and Singapore Slingers, respectively.
With this result, Saigon Heat will avoid facing NS Matrix ofMalaysia, who were unbeaten in 10 consecutive matches.
Saigon Heat and Singapore Slingers will compete in the best-of-three series.
The team with two wins will enter the final. The first matchbetween the two teams will take place on March 6, while the second will be onMarch 8. If the score is 1-1, the two sides will play a third match on March 9to determine the final result.
For Saigon Heat, the clash with Singapore Slingers will not be aneasy match. Defensive play and heavy physical factors often make Saigon Heat difficult, especially when they donot have many tall players playing in the central position.
Singapore Slingers's CJ Gettys is 2.13m tall and specialises.
However, the strength of Saigon Heat comes from their stabilityand three points ability.
Along with the home-field advantage, the Heat are expected tocomplete their goal of entering the final for the first time in their history.
The opportunity to make history is even more possible thanks tooutstanding players like Nguyen Huynh Phu Vinh, Vo Kim Ban, Du Minh An, TimWaale (Dinh Khai Tam) who have been with the team for many years.
These players contributed greatly to helping the team become thefirst in the Vietnamese Basketball Association (VBA) history to win threeconsecutive championships (2019, 2020 and 2022)./.