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.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS