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Thursday, December 31, 2009, Malaysia – The start of 2010 sees round 12 of the ASEAN Basketball League take place from 4 to 6 January. After two weeks of rest, its time for the teams to prepare for the last four rounds before the playoffs start on 30 January.
On 4 January 2010, the Thailand Tigers will meet the Brunei Barracudas, 8pm at the Nimibutr National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand. The Thailand Tigers, currently in 4th place in the league standings, will look to get back on track after losing their past three matches. Despite being fourth in the league standings, Thailand Tigers are only one point ahead of Brunei Barracudas and KL Dragons, who are both looking to take the last spot to the playoffs.
The Thailand Tigers who lost to the Brunei Barracudas on 14 November at the Brunei Indoor Stadium, had their revenge on 22 November, when they won 77 – 66 at home against the Barracudas. The Thailand Tigers will be using their home crowd advantage once again to bring down the Barracudas and hopefully strengthen their hold on the coveted 4th position.
On 5 January 2010, the KL Dragons will meet with second placed Satria Muda Britama, 8pm at the MABA Stadium, Malaysia. This will be the second time to two teams face each other and KL Dragons will be looking to avenge their 25 October loss to Satria Muda BritAma when the two teams played at the BritAma Arena, Jakarta.
Though it may seem that the KL Dragons have a formidable task ahead of them, they have managed to surprise their fans, especially with their win against Singapore Slingers on 22 November, where the KL Dragons won 84 – 74 against the home team. On the other hand, Satria Muda BritAma will be going into round 12 with some level of confidence, after so far winning 6 of their 11 matches, and only conceding to top seeds Philippine Patriots and Singapore Slingers.
The final match of Round 12 will take place on 6 January 2010, where Singapore Slingers will go up against Philippine Patriots, 8pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The Singapore Slingers who started to season at the top of the standings table, seemingly loss their winning touch after their shocking loss to KL Dragons on 22 November. The Slingers proceeded to lose their next two matches, when they faced Thailand Tigers on 7 December and Satria Muda BritAma on 12 December. Just before Christmas, the Singapore Slingers got back on winning track, defeating the Thailand Tigers 69 – 66 in the closely fought match.
The Philippine Patriots who are currently first in the league standings, will be looking for another win to strengthen their position. Winning 9 of their 11 games, they will be going in strong, but the Patriots will not be too comfortable, after their shocking loss to Brunei Barracudas on 13 December.
League Standings As At 31 December (Round 11)
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Position
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Team
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Played
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Won
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Loss
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For
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Against
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Points
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1
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Philippine Patriots
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11
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9
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2
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810
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727
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20
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2
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Satria Muda BritAma
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11
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6
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5
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804
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779
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17
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|
3
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Singapore Slingers
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10
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6
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4
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716
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701
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16
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4
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Thailand Tigers
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12
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3
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9
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855
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901
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15
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|
5
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Brunei Barracudas
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10
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4
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6
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766
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784
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14
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|
6
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KL Dragons
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10
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4
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6
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737
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796
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14
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For more information, please contact Mr Kuhan Foo, Chief Executive Officer of the ASEAN Basketball League at email kuhan@aseanbasketballleague.com, or Samantha Surin, Marketing at +6016 219 8847 or email samantha@aseanbasketballleague.com.
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