Super Basketball League play is to resume this afternoon with Taiwan Beer taking on Kinmen Kaoliang at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City.
It is a must-win situation for the Distillers, who need to take both games over the weekend and hope for a Dacin Tigers loss in their remaining game in the regular season for the best of Kinmen to qualify for the upcoming playoffs, as they trail the sixth-placed Tigers by half a game.
Kinmen would lose out in a tie should both clubs finish with identical win-loss marks based on their losing head-to-head record (2-3) during the regular season.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“It is do or die for us; any way you look at it, we must win both games,” Kinmen Kaoliang head coach Wu Chun-hsiung said earlier this week. “We don’t want to pack up and be done for good.”
The first-year handler has guided his team through some ups and downs over the course of the season, placing as high as No. 4 in the standings as recently as early last month before dropping seven straight games to fall out of the top four.
For the Distillers to win, Player of the Month for last month Bryan Davis needs to have a good showing, distributing the ball offensively, since he will likely be double-teamed by the Brew Crew defense and someone else must rise to the occasion to pick up the scoring slack.
As for Taiwan Beer, who need to win at least one of their two remaining games in the regular season to lock up third place, this is definitely the easier of the two.
In the second game, the Cats face the Yulon Luxgens, who would love to begin the Year of the Sheep with a big win over their archrivals following their upset win over top-ranked Pure Youth Construction two weeks ago to close the Year of the Horse on a high note.
Big man Norvel Pelle of the Tigers will have his hands full guarding the Automakers’ inside threat Herve Lamizana, who has averaged more than 23 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game in the four games he has played since joining Yulon earlier this month, his second tour with Yulon.
In the final game of the day, the Builders face Bank of Taiwan, winners of five consecutive games, with last week’s Player of the Week James Tyler and Coach of the Year favorite Hung Chun-che on the Bankers’ side.
Even though Pure Youth might have a better team as far as the statistics and records are concerned, this could be a game the Bankers steal from them, since the Builders have already clinched a top-seed berth in the playoffs and will likely give their reserves more floor time.
The inside of the paint will likely be crowded, with two of the biggest players in the league, Tyler and the Builders’ Garret Siler, pushing and shoving their way around.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
Manchester United on Tuesday confirmed Michael Carrick as interim manager until the end of the season, tasking him with leading the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. “Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honor,” said Carrick, 44, who won 12 major trophies in his 12-year playing career at United. The former midfielder previously had an unbeaten three-game stint as caretaker boss at Old Trafford in 2021. Carrick then took on his first permanent managerial role at second-tier Middlesbrough in October 2022 and was sacked in June last year after the club finished 10th in the
RSS