SMBeermen wary of winless Saigon Heat

MANILA, Philippines - Although going up against the league’s doormat, San Miguel Beer treats the Saigon Heat as a dangerous rival when the Beermen play on the road in tonight’s third AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) at the Tan Binh Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City.

“One thing I’ve learned in this league is not to take any team lightly, especially when they are playing in their homecourt,” said coach Bobby Parks of SMB (3-2) of the 7 p.m. matchup (8 p.m. in Manila) with the winless Heat (0-5).

Parks has reasons to be cautious when playing away from home as his wards are 1-2 on the road, losing to the Westports Malaysia Dragons last Jan. 15 and Jobstreet.com Singapore Slingers last Feb. 1. They won over the Chang Thailand Slammers in between.

“Our two losses came from top teams and were both on the road. It’s much harder playing on the road,” said Parks, adding the last time they had a long trip and played as visitors against Singapore, they sort of lost their focus.

Tonight, the Beermen will also enter the game with a defensive mindset, especially against the league’s top scorer, Julius Hodge (25.40 ppg).

“We have to find a way to do a good job on him. I understand he shoots the ball a lot. Sometimes you can’t shut down scorers but try to limit him. We’re going to make some others beat us, other than Hodge,” said Parks, whose team came off 94-59 victory over the Bangkok Cobras at home.

An expansion team just like the Beermen, the Heat are playing in only their second game at home. In their first time, the Vietnamese club nearly pulled the rug from under the Slingers before yielding, 55-60. 

A win will allow SMB to climb up to second in a tie with idle Singapore (4-2), just half a game behind pacesetting AirAsia Philippine Patriots (4-1).