Unable to overcome a size disadvantage like they had done in the opener against South Korea, Taiwan fell to a bigger and younger Australia squad 80-67 at the Taipei County Sinjhuang Gymnasium on Friday night to even their record at 1-1 in this year’s Jones Cup.
Australia virtually controlled the glass at both ends of the floor with a 40-28 rebounds margin in a game they never trailed.
The inability to win the rebound battle was not the only problem Taiwan experienced as their perimeter game also turned stone-cold and allowed Australia to stay comfortably inside the paint to guard against the little offense that the hosts could muster from close range.
“Anytime you play like the way we did, it’s pretty darn hard to win a game,” skipper Chung Kwang-suk said after the game, lamenting the impact of the absence of Tseng Wen-ding (Yulon Dinos) and Wu Dai-hao (Taiwan Beer), the two premier centers in the Super Basketball League.
Leading the attack with limited support was Yang Jing-min (Taiwan Beer), who led Taiwan’s scoring for the second straight game with 14 points.
Even though five different players ended up scoring in double-digits on the night, it did not mean much to an Australia lineup that towered over their Taiwanese counterparts by an average of 6cm a man (196 cm to 190 cm) and with five players over 200cm.
Tonight’s Game
Taiwan take on Jordan at 7pm tonight in an uphill battle as the defending champions from the Middle East will undoubtedly try to capitalize on their height advantage (average 197.5 cm) by pounding the ball inside the paint against a smaller Taiwan lineup.
Rediscovering their long-range shooting will be key to whether Taiwan can keep pace with Jordan or become another victim to an attack that is capable of blowing the game wide open early in proceedings.
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