Last week’s SBL Player of the Week went to the deserving Earl Barron of the Fubon Braves, who earned the nod from members of the Basketball Writers’ Association to take home the coveted weekly honor.
The 34-year-old former University of Memphis standout from Mississippi, who played eight seasons in the NBA prior to signing with the Braves at the start of this season, demonstrated his versatility at both ends of the court.
He had a strong 24-point outing inside the paint against top-ranked Pure Youth Construction on Thursday last week before taking his game out on the perimeters with a slew of mid-range jumpers against second-ranked Taiwan Beer on Sunday to lift his club past a pair of top-tier opponents.
“I am really glad to be able to help our team beat two of the top teams in the league. It means a lot to me because it shows just how good we really are,” Barron said earlier in the week upon learning of his selection for the weekly honor.
His average of 31 points and 17 rebounds in the Braves’ three contests last week also boosted his season total to a league-best 26.1 points and second-best 14.6 rebounds, making him one of the frontrunners in the race for the Player of the Month honor.
“All the individual awards do not mean much if our team does not win. That is our ultimate goal,” Barron added when asked about his chances of being voted this month’s top player.
“[Barron] has really set an example for the younger players in terms of his on and off-court conduct; he watches what he eats and takes good care of himself,” Fubon head coach Yen Hsin-shu said of his hired gun.
Yen’s troops are to have an opportunity to pick up an elusive eighth win of the season with a meeting against sixth-placed Bank of Taiwan in their lone game of the week tomorrow evening. Barron is to square off against the Bankers’ Luke Nevill, who is also coming off a monstrous game in a win over Kinmen Kaoliang last weekend.
The Braves will attempt to put some pressure on the shaky ball handling of the Bankers’ backcourt in the hope of creating turnovers to set up their transition game.
Tonight’s Games
The third-ranked Dacin Tigers are to take on Kinmen Kaoliang in tonight’s first game at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City, followed by the Yulon Luxgens’ showdown against a struggling Pure Youth squad that has lost three straight for the first time this season.
While the Tigers should not have too much trouble against the Distillers in the early game, the Luxgens are likely to have their hands full against the Builders, who have more than their top spot in the standings to defend as their pride will also be on the line.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but