KUALA LUMPUR: The Causeway rivalry takes centre-stage in the Asean Basketball League (ABL) on Sunday when Malaysia Dragons host Singapore Slingers at the Maba Stadium.
The Slingers swept the Dragons 4-0 in the 2016-17 season to improve their head-to-head record to 14-15 since their first meeting in 2009 but coach Chris Thomas is confident of reversing that run.
Thomas was new to the rivalry when he arrived last season but knows what it means to Malaysians to record a win against Singapore.
"They are going to be a handful on Sunday but there are no easy games in the league," said Thomas, with the seventh-placed Dragons winning their last two games to improve to 3-4.
"I didn't necessarily learn about the rivalry last season but I was introduced to that real quickly and it's an important game for both teams and to the people in Malaysia. We'll throw it all at them and hopefully the chips fall our way."
The Slingers are coming off a 91-88 defeat to Mono Vampire on home court on Friday despite 31 points from Xavier Alexander, who played the maximum 40 minutes, while Chris Charles added 24 points and pulled 13 rebounds.
The result dropped the sixth-placed Slingers to 5-6 overall but they have won four of their seven matches on the road.
"We've got to speed things up against them and that is no secret," said Thomas of how to contain the Slingers' dangermen Charles and Alexander.
"You can't allow them to establish a defensive rhythm. The more we score in transition and the more we push the pace, we'll give ourselves a chance to win."
The last time the Dragons defeated the Slingers was in Game Five of the ABL Finals in 2015-16.