Taiwan found itself eliminated from the second round of play in men’s basketball at this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, with an 82-73 loss to the Philippines late on Monday night to close out the tournament with a disappointing 1-4 record in Group F.
It was the worst finish that Taiwan has had since joining the competition in 1954, warranting concerns about Taiwan’s status in the sport as one of Asia’s elite eight.
The highly anticipated match for Taiwan against its southern neighbor, in which the winners earned a chance to advance to the next round, lived up to its hype, with Taiwan opening the game with a slim 21-20 lead after one quarter of play before the Philippines came back in the second quarter to settle with a narrow 42-40 lead at the half.
PHOTO: AFP
After an intense five minutes of play that saw Taiwan lead by as many as four early in the third, the game took a sudden turn as the Philippines went on a deadly 18-4 run that gave them a 64-54 lead by the end of the third quarter; a lead they did not relinquish en route to an easy victory.
Failure to hit three-pointers, coupled with an injury suffered by versatile forward Tien Lei (Dacin Tigers), cost Taiwan the game as both had played a crucial role in keeping the team competitive against worthy opponents (Japan, Qatar and Iran) that resulted in three narrow defeats earlier in the tournament by a combined margin of nine points.
Taiwan shot a dismal 6 for 27 from behind the three-point arc in a losing effort, not to mention a 41-27 rebounding disparity that demonstrated the Philippines’ supremacy in the paint.
Lin Chih-chieh ended with a game-high 21 points, while fellow center Wu Tai-hao (Taiwan Beer) netted 20 in his best game of the competition.
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