Play will resume in the Super Basketball League (SBL) at 6pm this evening at the Hsinchu Municipal Gymnasium with Taiwan Beer taking on Bank of Taiwan in a classic David and Goliath battle.
With newcomer Derek Stribling having joined Taiwan Beer skipper Yen Jia-hua’s lineup during the Lunar New Year break, the beer crew are eager to showcase the US power forward.
“He [Stribling] should be able to fill the shoes of ‘the Beast’ now that we’ve seen what he can do on a basketball court,” Yen said earlier this week, referring to the departure of former Taiwan Beer icon Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh, who left to play in China after six seasons with Taiwan Beer.
Playing without “the Beast,” the two-time champs are 5-5 through the first 10 games of the season (currently in a tie for third place with the Yulon Luxgens), well below the expectation of their fans.
It will be an interesting game for the bankers as they look to counter Stribling’s Taiwan debut with US import Jeff Jones, who has shown signs of brilliance despite playing for the worst club in the league with a dismal 1-9 record.
Next up tomorrow are the Dacin Tigers and the Yulon Luxgens at 8pm.
The top-ranked Tigers are looking to add to their lead over the second-place Kinmen Liquor to start the new year with a big “W.”
“Revenge will definitely be a factor in this game for them [Luxgens], since we beat them the last time we played to start what ended up being a four-game slide for them,” Dacin head coach Chiou Da-tsong said recently. “Either way, though, we are ready for them.”
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