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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set