In near-unanimous fashion, Lu “Male Model” Cheng-ju was named last week’s Player of the Week after another outstanding weekend of play in leading his club to a pair of wins before the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Yulon Luxgen small forward easily won the nods from members of the Basketball Writers’ Association for his uncanny display of grace and poise, averaging 26 points, five rebounds and 2.5 steals per game in the Luxgens’ two wins over worthy opponents.
“I’d like to thank my coaches and teammates for drawing up the plays and setting the screens for me; the rest kind of takes care of itself,” Lu said upon learning his selection for the third time in eight weeks.
His continued improvement on both ends of the floor has many thinking of him as the frontrunner for the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor.
“Of course [being voted League MVP] would be a tremendous honor, but I am not going to worry about that right now; I just want to help our club win as many games as possible and get into the post-season,” Lu said when asked about his chances for being named MVP after having already won the Player of the Week three times and December’s Player of the Month honor.
Lu will not be suiting up in a Yulon uniform this weekend as the league will showcase the fans’ favorites in the annual All-Star Game that is scheduled to start at 3pm on Sunday at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City. He will be joining fellow Luxgens Chen Chih-chung and Ko Min-hao, as well as Pure Youth Construction’s Doug Creighton and Chen Tzu-wei on the starting lineup for Team White, which will take on a Team Red that will feature a near all-Taiwan Beer starting lineup of Liu Cheng, Lu Chi-min, Patrick O’Bryant and Chiang Yu-an, along with the Dacin Tigers’ Chou Yi-hsiang.
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
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