Godfrey, Dragons not afraid of hostile crowd in Singapore

Photo from ABL

SINGAPORE — Calvin Godfrey is not intimidated by the idea of a sold-out arena cheering against him. 

Having played in front of the ASEAN Basketball League’s most rabid fans in Vietnam when facing the Saigon Heat, Godfrey feels the Westports Malaysia Dragons are ready for anything — even a packed OCBC Arena. 

“No, not against us,” Godfrey told INQUIRER.net when asked whether the expected sellout crowd will work to their disadvantage.

“Have you ever been to Saigon? Out of all teams, I think they have the most cruel fans. If we can play there, I’m pretty sure we can play anywhere.”

Godfrey and the Dragons are in Singapore for a crucial swing in the ASEAN Basketball League best-of-five Finals. 

Malaysia has a chance to go back to Kuala Lumpur after this weekend as the new ABL champions or as runner-up finishers for the second straight year. 

Godfrey, one of the key reinforcements for his team, believes slowing down the Slingers in transition on the defensive end and moving the ball well on the other side will be the Dragons’ keys to winning the series.

“We have to try and stop them from making so many transition plays and keep an eye out on the double team,” Godfrey said a few hours before the game at the OCBC arena here. “They double teamed us in the last two games in the post, so we’re going to be looking for our players to move around and get the ball in the post.” 

The Dragons made a living out of second chance points in their Game 2 victory, and Godfrey has dedicated himself to keeping that aspect of the game going for his team. 

“The second chance is kinda my game, per se. I just gotta make sure I can get whatever second chance points I get and if not, just value every possession so at least if I don’t get the second chance points our team gets another possession at least.”

The American import expects to get more production from their locals with Singapore’s defense focused more on stopping him, Reggie Johnson and Filipino guards Matthew Wright and Jason Brickman.

“They’ve been with us all year, working out just as much as we have. I dont wanna say that we didn’t need them, but we’ve been able to do what we could this whole season with the core four import,” Godfrey said. “But now, the teams are scouting and putting more emphasis in guarding us we’re just gonna try our best to get everybody involved.” 

The Malaysians already have extra motivation when facing Singapore and the intensity of this long-standing rivalry is palpable in this ABL finals.

He may not be a Malaysian, but even Godfrey can feel that it is a factor in this series.  

“There rivalry is there. I’m not Malaysian by birth so I don’t really feel [the intensity of] the rivalry like they do, but you can tell everybody is more intense about it being Singapore as opposed it to being any other team.”