Dragons on guard against basement side Zhuhai Warriors

KUALA LUMPUR: Don’t underestimate them.

Westports Malaysia Dragons head coach Jamie Pearlman does not want his players to look down on Zhuhai World Warriors even though they are at the bottom of the Asean Basketball League (ABL) standings.

The Warriors have only a win and 10 losses and the Dragons – looking for their fourth win – will host them at the Maba Stadium today.

Both teams met in Zhuhai, Guangdong in China early last month where a strong fourth quarter effort of 36 points allowed the Dragons to bounce back from a 13-point deficit for a 74-73 win.

But Pearlman has noted that the Warriors are a vastly different team now, having signed for- mer NBA point guard Mike Taylor who featured in more than 50 games for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2008-2009 season.

“Yes, they are the lowest team in the league but they only lost to Singapore (Slingers) by four points on Friday night and Taylor, who is really talented, has come in for them adding a new dimension to that group,” said Pearlman.

“And they’re now running some different strategies and defensive system as well, so there has been a lot of changes since we last played them and from my point of view they are a new team who deserve respect.

“So you don’t want to get caught up by where they are in the ladder as they are a much better team than the record suggests.”

The Dragons are feeling confident on the back of a major victory when they inflicted the first defeat of the season on San Miguel Alab Pilipinas 72-71 last week.

The win was even more momentous as the Dragons were without American point guard Winston Shepard.

Singaporean guard Jonathan Wong stepped up with 21 points to lead the Dragons.

“We’re confident in our style of play and I always think if we focus on it, we stand a chance to win games but we’re very much still building up our defensive system and at the same time becoming a better offensive team.”

The Malaysian side will be relieved to hear that Shepard will most likely return against the Warriors today.

The 25-year-old has been a force averaging 20.5 points, 12 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.5 steals in his last four matches.