Winning the home stage, Saigon Heat did something unprecedented in the team's history
Stage 4 taking place at Nguyen Du Stadium - Ho Chi Minh City has closed the qualifying stage (equivalent to Regular Season) of ABL Invitational 2023, the 11th season of the Southeast Asian Professional Basketball Tournament.
Saigon Heat continues its impressive streak of previous performances to win all 3 matches at home, beating opponents including Macau Black Bears, Singapore Slingers and Louvre Surabaya respectively.
The audience contributed significantly to this success, fueling the players with packed stands whether the match took place on Sunday or midweek, creating great motivation for coach Matt Van Pelt's teachers and students.
Any player is overwhelmed when immersed in the passionate atmosphere, especially foreign soldiers and Vietnamese-born player Hassan Thomas playing in Vietnam for the first time.
“You guys are really crazy, I was warned by my teammates but I didn't think the atmosphere would turn out this great. I am very grateful for the love of Saigon Heat fans for me and the team," shared Hassan Thomas.
With an unbeaten record at home, Saigon Heat closed the Regular Season ABL Invitational 2023 at the top of the rankings. This is the best result in the team's history in the international arena.
"Mr 30" has 11 wins in 14 matches, winning stage 1 (4 matches) and stage 4 (3 matches), Heat's three defeats came before rivals Hong Kong Eastern, NS Matrix Malaysia and Singapore Slingers.
Coincidentally, these three teams will also enter the Playoffs with Saigon Heat. Particularly, the Singapore Slingers will be the direct opponent of the Vietnamese representative in the semi-final series.
It is expected that ABL 2023 will take a break for 2 weeks so that the teams can recover physically and have the best professional preparation. After that, the Playoffs series will start in early March.
The format of the competition is still stage-based like the Regular Season, but the venue has not yet been revealed by the organizers.
