Saving his best for last, Kinmen Liquor’s Chen Jing-huan netted a season-best 34 points and 13 rebounds in the final week of the regular season to claim the SBL Player of the Week award.
The soft-spoken forward out of Tsai Hsing Senior High School topped his previous season-high of 24 in an outstanding performance to help his team pull off a big victory over Pure Youth.
Even though Kinmen Liquor will not be playing in the postseason, the win was still a good way to end what many would consider a disappointing year for the Distillers after they dropped out of playoff contention with a dreadful six-game slide last month.
“It [winning the award] is a great way to close out the year,” Chen said after learning of his selection.
Chen and the rest of the Distillers will have to sit it out as the top-seeded Dacin Tigers take on Taiwan Beer at the Taipei County Gymnasium in Sinjhuang at 6pm today, followed by a showdown between the second-seeded Yulon Luxgens and the third-seeded Builders at 8pm.
All attention will be focused on Taiwan Beer’s Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh, whose return to the SBL after a season with the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in China became a power struggle between the Brew Crew and the league over a rule that forbids any player from taking part in two different leagues in the same season. It took a special vote by the four postseason-bound clubs last week to grant the Beast and several other players the right to play in the postseason, a rule change now known as the “Beast Clause.”
With the Beast in their lineup, the Beer will put up a big fight to defend their title against the Cats.
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