No games are scheduled for this week in the Super Basketball League, as all teams take some much needed rest after four straight weeks of competition.
Now that each team has played at least one game against every team in the league, it is time to review how each team has fared through the first quarter of the season. (Most teams have played about six of the 24 games scheduled for the regular season).
Part 1 in this two-part series will take a look at the top three teams in the league.
Still leading the league with a perfect 5-0 record are the Yulon Dinos, headed by Chen Hsin-an (
The Dinos' winning formula in the first month has been a tough team defense that leads the league in points allowed (averaging 74 per game), blocked shots (6.4 per game), and steals (10.4 per game), and a disciplined offense that commits the least errors in the league, with an average of 13 turnovers per game
Perhaps luck has been on the Dinos side in the first month, as three of their five wins have been decided by five points or less and none of the wins have been by eight points or more.
"There is no doubt that every team in the league has marked the Dinos on their schedule," a source close to the league said.
Not far behind the Dinos in the standings are the BCC Mars, which boast a league-leading offense, averaging 86.2 points per game, and a balanced attack that often has all five starters scoring in double figures.
Big men Lai Kuo-hung (
Defense may become a problem for the Mars down the stretch as the has team yielded an average of 76.7 points per game through the first six contests.
"I am more than pleased with what we've done on the offensive end," coach Chung Chih-mong (
With the help of its budding star Lee "the Monster" Chih-jeh (
The "beer men" should not be too content with their 3-2 mark after five contests, because without "the Monster" in the lineup, nearly a third of the point production would disappear. Lee is so far ahead of the rest of the team in total scoring, it takes the next three top scorers on the team to match him.
"It's absolutely imperative that we develop a number of other guys as soon as possible, so that we won't have to rely on the `Monster,'" head coach Fu Ming-ren (傅明仁) said in a recent interview.
Lee has played in all but 13 minutes of the last five games for Taiwan Beer, and opposing teams are likely to begin to double- or even triple-team him.
Another area of concern for Taiwan Beer is the team's poor shooting from the free throw line, which is averaging 61%.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB