This week's hustle award goes to a Lions standout

Receiving well over half of the 8,301 votes cast by fans over the Internet last week, Sina Lions' Huang Chuen-hsiung (黃春雄), beat out Jeoutai Elephant shooting guard Yang Yu-ming (楊玉明) to claim the honor of "Mister Hustle of the Week."

This is the second time this season that Huang has won the award.

The 202cm veteran center brought the crowd to its feet with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to conclude a 12-point first half in the Lions' one-point victory over Taiwan Beer last week. He ended the game with 24 points and seven rebounds, leading the team in both categories.

Looking ahead at tonight's game-of-the-week matchup between the league-leading Dinos and second-place Lions, one should expect a defensive battle as Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) leads a reptilian attack against Huang's Lion parade.

It will be interesting to see how the Dinos rebound from their first defeat of the season as they face the red-hot Lions, who are on an eight-game winning streak.

While the key to success for both teams would be to get the ball to Chen Hsin-an and Tseng Wen-ding (曾文鼎) for the Dinos, and Huang and shooting guard Luo Hsin-liang (羅興樑) for the Lions, the team that can control the tempo of the game best is expected to win.

The Dinos will undoubtedly push the ball up the court in the transition game whenever possible to take advantage of a slower Lions lineup. Rushing the offense too much, however, may lead to some unnecessary turnovers against the more experienced Lions.

Tomorrow afternoon's matinee contest should be a delight, because the house will be packed with Taiwan Beer fans as they face the streaky Elephants.

Having earned the distinction for the team that ended the Dinos' perfect run, the high-flying Elephants will try to crash the beer party by winning three-straight games for the first time.

Separated by only 1/2 game, the winner will improve its chances on making the playoffs.

This is a "do-or-die"game for Taiwan Beer, because a loss will set the team four games back in the hunt for the elusive forth-and-final spot of the playoffs.

The primetime showdown tomorrow night will feature a banged-up Bank of Taiwan squad against the Dacin Tigers. Should history repeat itself, the Tiger bench will see plenty of action as the heavily favored Tigers look to follow their 21-point massacre of the financial wizards last Saturday.

Tien Lei (田壘) of the Tigers will get a chance to add to his league-high scoring total (averaging 22 points per game) against a Bank of Taiwan defense that could still be missing its top two players because of injuries earlier.

Game 1 on Sunday between the Dinos and the BCC Mars has three-digit scoring written all over it as the high-powered Mars offense (averaging nearly 86 points per game in their last three games) faces a Dino attack that scored 101 points against the Mars in their meeting.

The scale is tipping slightly toward the Mars as the Dinos may be drained Sunday after having faced the Lions earlier.

To conclude the weekend, the Elephants will pay a visit in the Lions' den in what promises to be an exciting finish to a wild weekend of hoops.

The Elephants stand to be the first team to slay the league's top two ball clubs in consecutive weekends as budding stars Yang Yu-ming and Wu Dai-hao (吳岱豪) take the court.