Yang Jing-min was named this week’s Super Basketball League (SBL) Player of the Week by members of the Basketball Writers’ Association for his outstanding performance in helping his club win all three of its games last weekend.
The soft-spoken Taiwan Beer forward, who has been nicknamed the “Amis Warrior” for his Amis Aboriginal bloodline, rose to the occasion by averaging nearly 17 points per game in the Brew Crew’s three games last weekend against worthy opponents.
The three victories not only breathed new life into the once-slumping squad, but also propelled them past the Yulon Luxgens for sole possession of third spot in the standings, with the regular season winding down.
Photo: courtesy of the SBL
“All the credit should go to the team, because basketball is a team sport. All the individual achievements don’t mean anything if the team doesn’t win,” Yang said after learning of his selection to the weekly honor.
Yang and the rest of the Brew Crew will look to extend their winning streak to six straight with three quite winnable games this weekend, starting with tonight’s contest against Kinmen Kaoliang, followed by tomorrow’s match versus Bank of Taiwan and Sunday’s showdown against the Yulon Luxgens.
Even though Taiwan Beer are favored to take the first two games, it will still be a tough test for skipper Yen Jia-hua to figure out how much he should play his starters, in the interest of saving them for Sunday’s tough battle against the Luxgens, whom they will likely face in the first round of play in the post-season.
The success of Yang and fellow center Kibwe Trim will determine the Brew Crew’s postseason fate, since they represent a good portion of the team’s total offensive output.
If Yang can hit the outside shots early in the game it would most definitely draw out the Yulon defenders, which means Trim will have a much easier time flexing his muscles inside the paint.
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