For the third week in a row, a Sina Lions player has won the "Mister Hustle of the Week" honor, reflecting the 5-0 run that the Lions have enjoyed as a result of their hard work.
Point man Chou Jung-san (周俊三), following fellow teammates Luo Hsin-liang (羅興樑) and Huang Chuen-hsiung's (黃春雄) footsteps in winning the weekly honor, beat out Yulon Dinos great Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) and Dacin Tigers standout Tien Lei (田壘) for the coveted award conducted by fan poll on a weekly basis.
The 34-year-old veteran dazzled fans in the two games that he played with a total of 22 points, 9 assists and six steals, while also boosting the play of his teammates.
"I would like to thank the fans for their support," Chou said earlier this week. "It is quite encouraging to a player to receive such a vote of confidence."
The Lions will take on the Bank of Taiwan in Game 2 tomorrow.
Jeoutai Elephants
versus Taiwan Beer
The Jeoutai Elephants and Taiwan Beer play tonight. Elephant defenders will have their hands full as they attempt to contain scoring leader Lin "the Monster" Chih-jeh (林志傑) of Taiwan Beer, who is averaging 23.6 points per game this season.
The beer men will be on the lookout for Elephants scoring threat Yang Yu-ming (
Yulon Dinos versus Dacin Tigers
Game 1 action tomorrow afternoon will feature a rematch between the league-leading Dinos and the mighty Tigers, which lost a hear-breaker in round one in a thriller on Dec. 13.
All eyes will be on the match-up between a pair of Player-of-the-Year contenders in Chen Hsin-an of the undefeated Dinos and Tien Lei of the Tigers.
Both coaches will try to avoid having one player guarding the other because it would greatly reduce his team's effectiveness on offense and unnecessarily wear down both marquee players on defense. This puts the burden on those assigned to keep the two game-breakers occupied on defense.
The game is likely to hinge on the performances of supporting players, such as Dino center Tsen Wen-ding (
BCC Mars versus
Jeoutai Elephants
Sunday's matinee match-up will feature the injury-plagued BCC Mars against the last-place Jeoutai Elephants in a "must win" game for the Mars.
Loser of their last three by an embarrassing average margin of 21 points, the Mars will attempt to regain their once-high-flying offense that averaged over 86 points per game in their first six contests.
Guard Yang Yu-ming is expected to have a field day from the perimeters against the Mars.
Yulon Dinos versus Taiwan Beer
To finish off the weekend, the Dinos will dip their tails in the beer jug in their second meeting with Taiwan Beer.
Round 1 between the two clubs was a much closer game than the final score of 78-90 would indicate, because Taiwan Beer actually held a four-point lead with four minutes remaining in the final period when the Dinos' went on a 14-point rampage.
"We all know what the Monster can do, so we will make sure that we keep him in check throughout the entire game," Dino skipper Chien yi-fei (
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