Play will resume in the Super Basketball League this evening, with Taiwan Beer taking on the Dacin Tigers at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City, followed by the match between the Yulon Luxgens and top-ranked Pure Youth Construction.
With the league’s month-long Lunar New Year holiday behind us and at least two of the four playoff berths still up for grabs, the remaining month of play in the regular season promises to be an exciting one as the Brew Crew, the Luxgens, the Tigers and Kinmen Liquor look to gain the edge that will send them into the post-season.
It is a must-win game for the fifth-place Tigers because another loss would set them back to No. 6 in the standings, more than three games behind the fourth-place Luxgens, a predicament that skipper Hsu Chih-chao would not want to see. He had ordered his troops to watch their weight over the holiday prior to the winter break and tonight’s game will be a good opportunity for them to examine their progress.
How well hired-gun Reggie Okosa matches up against a well-rested Patrick O’Bryant of Taiwan Beer will play a big part in determining the outcome of the game, because both offenses rely heavily on their foreign player for point production.
On the other side of the ball, the third-place Brew Crew will also try their best to stay on the winning track as they hang on to a slim one-game lead over the Luxgens.
While O’Bryant’s success inside the paint is critical, second-year man Liu Chan’s ability of keep the turnovers down and his quick hands moving will also play an important role for Taiwan Beer.
In the contest between the Builders and the Auto-makers, the scale will be heavily tilted in favor of the two-time defending champs as they look to bounce back from a one-point loss to the Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards the last time they took the floor.
Yulon will need to play a near-perfect game as they had done back in December last year in which they topped the Builders in an 84-81 upset.
Keeping the fouls to a minimum will reduce the Luxgens’ exposure on their shallow bench depth as they try to avoid getting into a scoring match with Pure Youth. A low-scoring affair in the sixties would be ideal for Yulon.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB