Play will resume this evening after a three-week Lunar New Year break with the Yulon Luxgens taking on the Fubon Braves at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City, followed by a showdown between the Dacin Tigers and Bank of Taiwan.
With only two games separating the fourth-place Luxgens and the fifth-place Braves in the standings and an auspicious start in the Year of the Monkey at stake, both squads will undoubtedly give their best effort to pick up the big win.
It will be a very interesting matchup between the Luxgen import Liam McMorrow and his counterpart, Paul Butorac.
Butorac was picked up by the Braves earlier this week to replace an injured All-Star center in Earl Barron, who is expected to be out for at least one week after suffering a muscle strain during practice last week.
While both players are no strangers to the Super Basketball League, with the former having played a full season with Bank of Taiwan two years ago before joining the Luxgens midway through this season and the latter also having tried out with the Bankers prior to the start of this season, neither club will be able to run their full repertoire of plays due to the relative “newness” of the two players.
The scale will likely tip in favor of the Automakers, with perimeter threat Lu “Male Model” Cheng-ju expected to have big day from the field against the Fubon defense, which is likely to be handicapped by Butorac’s lack of familiarity on defense.
In the second game between the Tigers and the Bankers, all eyes will be on the Tigers’ emerging team icon Chou Yi-hsiang, who won last month’s Player of the Month honor with an excellent stretch of outstanding games prior to the New Year break.
Also eager to join Chou will be Bryan Davis who had to leave the All-Star Game on Jan. 31 at the half to catch a flight back to the US after having played a monstrous first half for Team Red.
The game will be Dacin’s to lose as they hold a decisive 3-0 record in their three previous meetings, even though the most recent one was narrowly won by the Cats on the strength of a strong finish in a game that should have been won by the Bankers.
And with a well-rested Luke Nevill and Chen Hsuan-hsiang looking to redeem themselves from the 92-90 loss to Dacin on Jan. 3, the Bankers could be up for a big upset if both of their scoring guns can knock down the open shots against the aggressive Dacin defense.
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev was the only athlete to “beat” a world record on Sunday at the Enhanced Games, winning the men’s 50m freestyle at the divisive competition where athletes were free to take performance-enhancing substances. His time of 20.81 seconds — which is not considered official — came in the final event of the night in Las Vegas, sparing the blushes of organizers who made claims that multiple world records would be surpassed due to a sophisticated doping regime. Gkolomeev, who was wearing a synthetic “supersuit” long banned at events such as the Olympics, outpaced Australia’s Cameron McEvoy’s 20.88 set in
VICTORY ABROAD: The team took home a fistful of medals and secured spots for the autumn’s Asian Games, scheduled for September in Nagoya Taiwan’s women’s team captured the overall title at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Mongolia on Sunday, finishing with two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. The strong showing, led by gold medalists Wang Chieh-ling and Chang Jui-en secured the full quota of available spots for Taiwan at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, in September. Wang opened Taiwan’s medal run by winning gold in the women’s under-46kg class on Thursday, the first day of competition. Liu Yu-yun later earned a silver in the under-49kg class. On the final day on Sunday, Chang won Taiwan’s second gold medal in the under-62kg event, and
The manager of the Yomiuri Giants, one of Japan’s most popular baseball teams, resigned yesterday after he was arrested for allegedly physically attacking his teenage daughter. Shinnosuke Abe allegedly grabbed the 18-year-old and forced her to the floor at their home in central Tokyo on Monday evening, reported national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News, citing unnamed police sources. “Leaving like this really means I’m causing you a lot of trouble, and I feel truly sorry about that,” Abe told a hastily arranged news conference, his eyes red with tears. The former star catcher, who is among baseball-obsessed Japan’s most recognized sports figures,
Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open, after she and German partner Mark Wallner defeated Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Briton Lloyd Glasspool in straight sets, despite temperatures exceeding 32°C in Paris, while Taiwan’s top men’s doubles player Ray Ho also reached the second round. Hsieh, who made it to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros in 2024, and Wallner defeated Klepac and Glasspool 6-3, 7-5 in just more than an hour, converting three of five break points, while holding their opponents to just one conversion
RSS