League officials announced the result of last month’s Player of the Month voting earlier this week, with Lu “Male Model” Cheng-ju of the Yulon Luxgens winning after an outstanding stretch of play that helped his club ascend from near the bottom of the standings to No. 4 in the league.
The perimeter threat with a master’s degree from Chinese Culture University in Taipei, who became the first player to reach the 600-three-pointer plateau with a great start to the season, followed up his two Player of the Week selections last month with the Player of the Month trophy on Tuesday.
Even though individual achievements are rarely emphasized among players in this day and age, the soft-spoken swingman has every right to be proud of his accomplishment.
“I am honored to be picked, given the caliber of players we have in the league,” Lu said. “I would like to thank my teammates for getting the ball to me and setting the picks against the other teams to free me up for the shots.”
When asked by reporters what his next goal is, the Yulon captain skipped the league’s Most Valuable Player distinction and said he hopes for an unprecedented fifth league title.
“For me, winning the league MVP is nowhere near as meaningful as winning another title,” Lu said.
His improvement on the court in terms of his vision and rebounding has transcended the emerging Luxgen’s icon into one of the league’s premier offensive threats, with a average of 17.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and a 43.2 field-goal percentage in 13 games.
Next up for the Male Model and Yulon is a feisty Kinmen Kaoliang squad at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City tomorrow evening.
Kinmen (3-11) have a lot to prove, despite having the services of Kyle Barone, who leads the league in rebounding with nearly 15 boards per game to go along with his average of 22.3 points per game.
It is something of a must-win game for the Automakers, who dropped two straight last week to begin the new year on a down note.
Yulon skipper Wei Yung-tai will be looking to use a victory against the Distillers as a prelude to Saturday’s showdown against a resurging Dacin Tigers outfit, who had won five straight as of yesterday and are looking to avenge their two losses against Yulon this year.
Tonight’s Games
Top-ranked Pure Youth Construction face second-placed Taiwan Beer in a clash of the two elites.
A win in Banciao for the Brew Crew would pull them to within a half-game of the Builders.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6pm.
Tonight’s second game pits the Tigers against the Fubon Braves in a battle between teams who are going in opposite directions.
The Tigers are looking to extend their win streak to six, while the Braves are attempting to win just their second game in seven.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS