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I'm the new NT manager for Malaysia! While I have experience with the U21 NT, this is my first term as NT manager. To be honest, I may not have enough time to do the scouting it requires. I will try my best not to disappoint you.

Starting this season with the Asia Championship Tournament. Being with China and Australia, those 2 teams should finish at the 2 top spots. After that, it will be open for us, Japan and maybe Vietnam. Our goal will be to get this 3rd place and qualify for the next round.

I kept only 12 players in the roster to start the season. With 5 players being 33yo or older, a few younger players may be called in during the season.

First game will be against Australia. I already set up a lineup and will review/update it on Sunday.

First game against Australia was a tough game as expected. -9 after 12 minutes, -14 at the end of the 2nd quarter, -25 with only 12 minutes left to play. We did a crazy last quarter with 47 points scored to come back and finish at -11. We could even have done better if they didn't score a buzzer beater.

Next game will be against Vietnam, they don't have much depth but their best players are pretty good. The aim will be to get our first win. Game shape will be super important.

well noted.

will do my best to maintain the player play time between 55- 65 min

To be honest, it does a bit. NT management is not the same as U21 NT. In the senior team, roster is constant, there isn't much national scouting involve and players skills are almost non evolving. I can focus more on scouting the opponent which I almost didn't do at the end of my U21 NT career. I feel good so far. Let's see if I can help our NT to get the results it deserves.

We won a close game against Vietnam, this is my first win as NT manager! It was expected that it wouldn't be an easy win. All our players finished with a positive +/-. Next game will be against Macau, it should be the easiest game of the season. That being said, we don't have much margin so let be serious and use this game to prepare the next ones.

In other games, Japan managed to beat Australia by 13, this results give much more uncertainty about the final ranking of the group. The last game against Japan may decide which team ends up 2nd. To be in such position, we need to have a good point difference.

We managed to win the game UAE, it wasn't an easy one as we made the difference in the 3rd and 4th quarters. We will now face the 2 undefeated teams of the group: China and then Japan. Those 2 teams are better than us, especially China. We will try different things without any expectations about the final results.

After a tough but expected loss against China (-30), we had a break. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find a scrimmage opportunity (the only team I found without a scrimmage declined my offer). Then we faced Japan as our U21 NT did. We were lucky to choose the right defensive tactic in order to seriously slow them down. With our prodigious (16) inside defense, we were all set to get the best of their low post offense. In the end, we dominated the boards (+13), they shoot under 30% thanks to our blocking skills (10 blks).

In other games, Australia managed to beat UAE by the lucky margin of 6 but they were up by 1 at the beginning of the 4th QT. Those 2 results will allow Australia to finish 2nd, we will be 3rd and Japan 4th. This is really better for us as we will be with Australia, Taiwan, Iran, Lebanon and Singapore in the next round. In the other group, there will be China, HK, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.

What a win against Iran! The end of the game was fantastic! We were in front during most the game but Iran did a great 4th quarter to lead by 6 with 1:14 remaining (110-104) but then Malaysia master piece happened: 10 to 1 to lead by 3: 111-114 with 10 seconds to play. Iran took a timeout and scored a 3-point shoot with 2 seconds on the game clock. Without taking a timeout, Malaysia played very quickly to find Aanandaprakash Srivastava on his way to the basket to miss the game winner on the buzzer... but a foul was called. He scored both FTs and the game ended with the first win for Malaysia NT in this second stage group.

In other games, Lebanon beat Australia by 19!!! At the same time, Taiwan won against Singapore. Iran and Australia may already have a hard time catching up to get the 2nd qualifying spot (as Taiwan will get one). Our next game against Australia, they don't have a choice but to win if they want to keep hope of seeing the semi-finals. We will also need to win it.

Edit: Lebanon is really an impressive team on the making, they only have a player over 31 which means that they will compete with the same roster (minus one PG) in 2 seasons.

Last edited by Nico4nicolas at 8/13/2024 9:34:54 AM