Lu Cheng-rue was named the Player of the Week in the Super Basketball League earlier this week for his outstanding performances in leading the Yulon Luxgens to a pair of wins in Taichung last weekend that kept the Automakers’ hopes for the post-season alive.
The small forward, who goes by the nickname of “Male Model” for his stunning looks, has been more than a pretty face in the recent contests for the four-time champs, as he converted nearly 40 percent of 47 three-point attempts in the past two weeks to provide a steady scoring support from the perimeters that often caused problems for the opposing defenses.
His 19 points per game average was especially instrumental in lifting Yulon past their opponents for a pair of potentially season-saving victories.
Photo courtesy of the SBL
“To win [the Player of the Week award] this late into the season isn’t necessarily a good thing, because that means you haven’t been as good as you could earlier,” a playful Lu joked upon learning of his selection to the weekly award.
“But in all seriousness, I am very happy to have helped my team win,” he added.
Having been through a midseason shooting slump, the “Male Model” is no stranger to adversity and criticism.
However, his timely surge could mean the difference for the Automakers between playing in the postseason or packing up their bags and going home following the final week of regular season play this weekend.
Yulon must win their game against the Dacin Tigers tonight in order to grab the fourth and final berth for the playoffs, which is scheduled to begin in a week.
“It’s simple; a win and we get in [the playoffs], and a loss will be the end of this season,” Yulon skipper Lin Cheng-ming said of this evening’s showdown against their archrivals.
Other than a great effort from Lu, Lin will need some solid offensive showing from big man Solomon Alabi inside the paint and an outstanding night from his other main perimeter threat, Chou Shih-yuan, to get the job done properly.
TONIGHT’S OTHER GAME
Today’s other match is to feature the playoff-bound Brew Crew from Taiwan Beer and last-place Bank of Taiwan, who would love to end an otherwise disappointing season on a high note with an upset win over the men in the familiar green uniform.
Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Chia-hua will likely play his reserves to help his club take an early lead, in order to save their strength for their regular-season finale against the top-ranked Pure Youth Construction tomorrow afternoon.
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