Tien Lei of the Dacin Tigers might have been the first to crack the 1,000-point scoring mark, but Taiwan Beer's Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh showed why he was still the center of the Super Basketball League, scoring 39-points against the Tigers at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium on Sunday, giving the beermen a 97-91 victory after double overtime.
Even though both were in position to reach the 1,000-point plateau, Lin missed his chance by one point last Friday.
Tien reached the mark in the Tigers' 93-67 slaughtering of the Antelopes on Saturday to accomplish the feat.
The league's first double-overtime game began with the Tigers taking a 16-11 lead in the first quarter, before the brewers reduced the gap to two -- closing out the first half behind the Tigers 34-31.
A 22-to-12 beermen run in the third quarter would put them up by seven before the Tigers returned the favor in the fourth quarter and actually led by three (73-70) until Lin Chih-jeh's game-tying three-pointer sent the game into the first extra session.
Each team rang up 10 points to force a second overtime. But the beermen's Hsu Hao-cheng then came out of nowhere and scored eight of the 14 points during the second overtime for the win.
In addition to his 39 points, Lin set a new record for most thee-pointers in a game with 10, passing the previous high of seven set by Luo Hsin-liang of the Lions on Feb 8 this year.
The emotional victory over the Tigers capped a 2-0 week for the beermen, who now trail the third-place Tigers by two games.
Bank of Taiwan 70, Hunters 69
Inability to stick the late-game free throws denied the Videoland Hunters at least a chance to force overtime play in their 70-69 loss to the Bank of Taiwan on Saturday.
Down by a deuce (70-68) with 10 seconds left to play, the Hunters' Yang Tseh-yi had a chance to tie the game up by sinking both of his free throws.
Instead, the normally sure-handed small forward made only one.
The Hunters would miraculously gain possession of the ball off Yang's missed free throw when Huang Chuen-hsiung managed to grab the offensive rebound for the Hunters, but Lee Chi-yi's turnaround jumper with four seconds remaining fell short.
The bankers' Yang Jing-ming led all scorers with 22 points, while teammate Wu Yung-ren pitched in another 20 from his point-guard position.
NBA
TORONTO, AP
LeBron James became the youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game, but his franchise-record 56 weren't enough to prevent the Toronto Raptors from beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-98.
On Sunday, James easily surpassed his previous career best of 43 points, set Nov. 24 against Detroit. However, he committed a key turnover with 16 seconds left and missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 14 seconds.
James finished 18-for-36 from the field and 14-for-15 from the line. He also had six 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and five assists. But Toronto's bench did in the Cavaliers, outscoring Cleveland's reserves 34-1.
At 20 years, 80 days old, James eclipsed Rick Barry as the youngest player to score 50 points. Barry was 21 years, 261 days old when he scored 57 for San Francisco against the New York Knicks.
James' point total also bested the previous Cavaliers mark of 50 set by Walt Wesley against Cincinnati on Feb. 19, 1971.
Pistons 110, Spurs 101
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Tim Duncan sprained his ankle moments after the tip and did not return, and Detroit went on to win a matchup of the last two NBA champions.
Chauncey Billups scored 25 points, including five straight late after the Spurs pulled within two, to lead Detroit to its 12th straight home victory.
Tayshaun Price scored 22, Rasheed Wallace had 15 and Richard Hamilton, limited by a sprained left ankle, added 11 points.
The Western Conference-leading Spurs, who won the 2003 NBA title, had won three consecutive games and eight of 10.
Duncan turned his left ankle turned after he scored and landed on Rasheed Wallace's foot under the basket in the opening minutes. The Spurs said X-rays were negative and he is day to day.
Nets 94, Pacers 85
In Indianapolis, Vince Carter scored 39 points, including 14 in the third quarter when the Nets pulled away for a season-best fourth straight win.
Reggie Miller, coming off a 39-point performance Friday night against the Lakers, was held to 13.
Nenad Krstic finished with 18 points, while Jason Kidd had 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for New Jersey.
Stephen Jackson led Indiana with 21 points despite being out from midway through the first quarter to the start of the second with a shin injury, while Johnson added 18 and Jones 14.
Suns 97, Grizzlies 91
In Memphis, Tennessee, Joe Johnson scored 28 points, including a 3-pointer with half a minute to play, to lead Phoenix.
Steve Nash had 13 points and 13 assists for the Suns, while Shawn Marion had 14 points and 16 rebounds. Phoenix also got 18 points from Quentin Richardson and 15 points from Amare Stoudemire. Johnson hit four of his five 3-point attempts.
But Phoenix scored fewer than 100 points for the first time in 17 games, and had 21 turnovers to match its season high.
The Grizzlies' Pau Gasol, the team's leading scorer, played 12 minutes on his return from missing 23 games because of a hurt foot. He had four points and one rebound.
Memphis was led by Shane Battier with 20 points, Lorenzen Wright with 19, Mike Miller with 15 and Jason Williams with 14.
Timberwolves 94, Rockets 86
In Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett had 30 points, 17 rebounds and six assists to lead Minnesota over Houston.
Garnett scored 13 of his points in the third quarter, when the Timberwolves took advantage of poor shooting by Tracy McGrady and the Rockets to pull away.
Sam Cassell, who did not play in Friday's loss to Memphis because of a strained right hamstring, had his best game in recent memory for the Wolves with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Yao Ming had 21 points and five rebounds for Houston, but did most of his damage in the first quarter. McGrady missed seven of his first eight shots and finished with 15 points on 4-of-22 shooting.
Sonics 102, Lakers 100
In Los Angeles, Rashard Lewis had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Ronald Murray filled in for the injured Ray Allen with a season-high 25 points, and Seattle held off slumping Los Angeles.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Lakers -- their longest losing streak since they finished the 1993-1994 season with 10 straight losses.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points.
Allen had six points, three assists and one rebound.
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