Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh's exceptional three-point shooting (13-for-27), including his record-setting 10 threes in last Sunday's contest against the Dacin Tigers, earned him this week's Super Basketball League Player of the Week award.
The Taiwan Beer's second-year power forward became the first two-time winner of the coveted weekly distinction this season for his outstanding effort in leading his club to a 2-0 weekend. The victories helped reclaim the fourth place spot in the standings for the beermen, something they had lost during a four-game slide earlier this month.
Lin, the heart-and-soul of the brew masters, averaged 30.5 points and 8.5 rebounds for the week to account for over one-third of the beermen's total offense. But it was his five assists and five steals in Sunday's game versus the Tigers that demonstrated his maturity on the court, making him the complete player that he is striving to become.
PHOTO: COURTESY SBL
Should he continue to improve his ability to find the open man when double-teamed and step up on his defensive efforts, Lin will undoubtedly make a strong case for himself in being the best all-around player in the business.
"The entire team was in a zone all week long last week, that was the best basketball that we had played in a while. Sunday's game against the Tigers was by far my best outing of the year." Lin said.
Lin and his beer mates will have a chance to see how good they really are in their showdown against the league-leading Yulon Dinos tonight.
It will be an uphill battle for the beermen all the way, especially with the addition of Chen Hsin-an to an already-potent lineup that leads the league in total offense (82.9 points per game).
Chen, the Dinos' top scorer from last season, left his team back in last November for a chance to play in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and has returned to his former team now that the ABA season is completed.
Tonight's other game between the ETTV Antelopes and the Bank of Taiwan will also be interesting in that both clubs are 9-12 for the season and have not been able to win consistently. The winner of this match will not only gain a full game in the standings on the loser for the sole possession of the fifth-place spot, but also reduce its gap behind the fourth-place Taiwan Beer by a full game with the beermen's expected loss to the Dinos.
Fresh off their huge one-point, upset win over the Videoland Hunters last Sunday, the bankers may have a slight edge in this game if they can put some pressure against the middle of the Antelopes' defense by attacking big man Wu Dai-hao early.
How well can the bankers shut down the Antelopes' shooting guard Yang Yu-ming, particularly his newfound penetration ability, will determine the outcome of this game.
Tomorrow's confrontation between the Hunters and the Tigers should also draw a full house simply because of the tremendous amount of offense that is expected for the game.
Both squads are coming off heartbreaking losses last week with the Hunters falling victims to the bankers by a point and the Tigers losing in double overtime to Taiwan Beer by a half-dozen, and will try to light up the sky with the long range bombs from the get go.
The Hunters lead the league in total three-pointers with 204 for the season so far, followed by the Tigers' 192, which means both teams will try to outscore the opponents in an all-out three-point shootout.
With the long threes come the long rebounds. Therefore, the club that can establish supremacy off the glass should realize an advantage and perhaps hold the key to victory for this game.
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