Taiwan Beer overcame an 0-2 start in their best-of-five first round playoff series against the Dacin Tigers to win the series 3-2, advancing to the championship round.
Despite playing with an ankle injury that kept him out of Game 1, Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh led an unprecedented Super Basketball League playoff comeback for Taiwan Beer with a 29.3 points-per-game scoring average over the three-game span, highlighted by Thursday night's series-high 33, to send his team into its first-ever championship series.
"This is what I live for, so whatever it takes for us to win, I will do," Lin said after Thursday night's 90-76 series-clinching win at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium.
The all-important Game 5 had both teams playing an even first quarter with Taiwan Beer leading by a point (22-21) before the Tigers shifted into another gear behind top scorer Tien Lei's 13-point second quarter to lead by eight (46-38) heading into the halftime intermission.
Trailing by eight, the brewers quickly returned the favor by opening the second half with an 11-1 run that helped them regain a 49-47 lead -- a lead that they would extend to as many as 20 points in the final quarter before running away with the blowout win.
Tough defense in the second half by the brewmasters limited the Tigers to 30 points, while Tien only scored two.
Veteran forward Shang Wei-fang, whose main task was to provide blanket-like coverage on Tien, also poured in a dozen for Taiwan Beer.
Ho Sho-cheng also scored 22 points for Taiwan Beer.
The loss of point guard Wang Chih-chuin after a serious concussion in Game 3, put a hurt on the Tigers' game plan.
"Wang allows us to do so much more offensively with his versatility and great instinct for the ball," Tigers coach Liu Jia-fa said.
His Tigers will have to settle for a date with the Bank of Taiwan in a consolation round beginning this weekend.
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